Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance arrested Raghunath Das, headmaster of a government high school at Chadeiguan near Mahakalpada in Kendrapara district, for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000.According to Vigilance officials, the Headmaster was caught red-handed today while taking the bribe from a newly appointed staffer of the same school. The staffer, who joined duty in August 2025, had not received his salary till date. He had repeatedly requested the Headmaster to submit his attendance sheet to the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) at the DEO office for release of his arrears. However, Raghunath Das allegedly demanded Rs 5,000 as bribe to process the file.Irked by the demand, the staffer approached the Odisha Vigilance, which laid a trap and nabbed the Headmaster while he was accepting the bribe money. The entire amount of Rs 5,000 was recovered from his possession and seized.Following the trap, simultaneous raids are being conducted at two locations linked to the accused to probe his disproportionate assets.A case has been registered against Raghunath Das at Cuttack Vigilance Police Station (Case No. 20/2026) under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.Further investigation is underway.
