The accused, identified as Heblet Barla, is posted at Muribahal Tahasil of Balangir. He was caught while accepting bribe of Rs.10,000/- as first instalment of totall demand of Rs 20,000/- from a complainant for issuance of ROR (Land Patta) in his favour in a mutation case.

The complainant had been requesting accused Barla to process his mutation case for a long time, as the case had been registered in the year 2019. However, Barla was refusing to do the work and demanding bribe of Rs.20,000/- to do the same.

Finding no other way, the complainant informed the Vigilance and the anti-corruption agency made a plan and nabbed the accused while accepting Rs.10,000/- as 1st installment.

The entire tainted bribe money has been recovered from the exclusive possession of Barla and seized, official sources said.

Following the successful trap, simultaneous searches are going on at two locations of Barla from Disproportionate Assets angle.

In this connection, a case has been registered and investigation is in progress.

According to a Vigilance release, he was found in possession of disproportionate assets, including 2 high-value flats and 2 commercial shopping outlets in Bhubaneswar, and had paid Rs 2.23 crore to realtors as advance for purchasing two more flats in upscale areas of Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru city. Deposits over Rs.3.90 crore, gold weighing 590 grams, Rs 1.16 in cash were also seized during the raid on Thursday, for which he could not account for satisfactorily.

Mohapatra will be produced before the court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar, it added.

If the amount of the disproportionate assets (DA) is found to be over Rs 15 crore, it could be the highest ever haul in the state, sources said.

Among Mohapatra’s high valued properties are a 3,000 sqft flat worth Rs 1 crore in a prime apartment at Pahala, two commercial shopping outlets worth over Rs 2 crore in a swanky mall at Kalpana Square, and a 3-BHK flat worth Rs 1 crore at Kalpana Square. While Rs 1.35 crore advance was paid to a realtor for purchasing a 5-BHK flat at Kalarahanga, Rs 88 lakh advance payment was made for a flat in Bengaluru.

Mohapatra had joined he transport department as an electrical engineer on September 9, 1991. He was promoted to the rank of junior motor vehicle inspector (MVI) in 2014 and worked in Balasore, Koraput, Bargarh and Gajpati districts. In 2021, he was promoted to the rank of MVI and posted at Bhubaneswar. Mohapatra has been working as RTO, Boudh, since May 1, 2022.

According to Kushal Biswas, honorary wildlife warden, Khurda, the Forest department received reliable information on Saturday night that two persons had kept the parrot chicks for sale in Nuapola under Jagatsinghpur Sadar block of the district.

On the direction of Cuttack Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), a team of Forest officials was formed to rescue the parrots. The team conducted a raid on the house of the two persons in Nuapola early Sunday morning.

“During the raid, the Forest officials found 72 parrot chicks kept in three separate boxes in the house. They also apprehended the two persons. The detained persons have admitted that they had kept the parrots for sale,” Biswal said.

Stating that possession, sale and trade of parrots is prohibited under Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Act-2022, he said the birds will be released at a safe habitation soon.

The two persons have been kept in Jagatsinghpur Forest Range office for questioning. Efforts are on to ascertain the source of procurement of parrots and involvement of other persons in the illegal trade.

The accused, identified as Jagannath Jena and Anil Nayak of Salia Sahi here, were nabbed from a bus stop near Mancheswar.

“Following a tip-off about illegal transportation of cough syrups to Bhubaneswar, a police team was formed under IIC of Nayapalli police station. The team was subsequently deployed near Kasturba bus stop from where the duo was nabbed. They failed to produce any valid documents/authorisation certificate regarding the contraband,” said ACP (Zone 5), Bhubaneswar, Gautam Kishan.

He said that 1,680 bottles of WINCEREX cough syrup, each bottle containing 100 ml, total 168 litres, were seized from them. “It is suspected that the consignment was meant to be supplied to other parts of the state,” he said, adding that a case has been registered under Section 21 B NDPS Act.

According to sources, the ATMs of Axis Bank at Tudigadia Bazaar post office under Khaira police limits and Punjab National Bank at Mangalpur under Soro police station limits was cut open using gas cutters. Around Rs 20 lakh cash was stolen from the ATM at Tudigadia by at least 6 robbers, who came in a four-wheeler. They also bombed the vending machine before fleeing.

Sources further said that Rs 12 lakh was filled in the ATM at Mangalpur on Tuesday. It is suspected that the same group of robbers looted two ATMs one after the other.

Police has launched an investigation and Soro IIC Pravash Sekhar Mishra examining footage of nearby CCTV camera to identify the culprits, who are suspected to be natives of Jharkhand.

According to sources, all the three, identified as Raisen Murmu, his wife Pana Murmu and brother Chandramohan of Nayarangamatia village within Udala police limits in the district had gone to attend Jahira Puja organised by the villagers.

While the puja was going on, Raisen had gone to get a chicken to be used in sacrificial ritual of the puja. As he got late in fetching the chicken, the villagers including his wife and brother were upset.

On Raisen’s arrival, they questioned him over the delay. However, the puja continued after he explained about the delay. But Chandramohan and Pana continued to engage in argument.

Agitated over it, Raisen accused his wife of supporting his brother because of her affair with him. Enraged over it, Pana picked up a wooden plank and hit him. Raisen sustained critical injury on the head and died on the spot.

On being informed, a team from Udala police station went to the village and arrested Pana and Chandramohan. They sent Raisen’s body for post-mortem and started investigation after registering a case.

The officials added the agency was raiding the premises of two block-level leaders Shahjahan Sheikh, and Shankar Adhya, and their relatives since Friday morning in North 24 Parganas under the security of central forces. State Food Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick has been arrested in connection with the alleged scam.

They said when the NIA team tried to break open the door of Sheikh’s house after repeated calls, hundreds of men and women, gathered at the spot shouting slogans. They also attacked the officials and damaged at least one vehicle, a resident told journalists. It was unclear whether Sheikh or his family members were present in the house.

“ED officials were attacked and a vehicle was damaged. Even the media was attacked. ED officials had to flee from the spot,” the report added quoting a resident.

ED officials said they were safe. “The search operation had to be abandoned. We are returning to Kolkata,” the official told journalists.

The deceased has been identified as Rasmiranjan Baliarsingh, a Jatra artist who was residing in the village. The accused, Somnath Lath of Chandanpur area in Puri district, is also an artist.

Police attributed the brutal murder to a suspected love triangle. Somnath moved in with Rasmiranjan in 2017 and soon they developed a physical relationship. Rasmiranjan, however, later fell in love with a fellow actress and started ignoring Somnath. On January 2, a heated argument ensued between them and in a fit of rage, the spurned lover picked a iron rod and hit Rasmiranjan in the head, killing his on the spot. Somnath then stole some cash and jewellery and fled in a motorcycle.

During investigation, police came to know about their affair. “Somnath was arrested from Jaipur and he has confessed to the crime,” Murmu added.

A woman allegedly stabbed her husband in the eye with a pair of scissors when he asked her for her mobile phone to listen to songs on a social media platform, PTI reported.

Following the incident in a housing development colony under Baraut police station in UP’s Bagpat, the victim Ankit filed a complaint against his wife Priyanka, informed Circle Officer (CO) Saviratna Gautam.

Based on his complaint, police have registered a case against Priyanka and an investigation has been started. Necessary action will be taken once the probe is completed.

According to Gautam, Ankit had asked Priyanka for her mobile phone to hear songs on YouTube. She refused to give her mobile and told Ankit to use his own phone.

An argument ensued between the husband and wife, after which Priyanka allegedly attacked Ankit in the eye.

Ankit has been admitted to a nearby community health centre where he is undergoing treatment.

The accused, identified as Harihara Pattjoshi of Berhampur, was arrested by a team of Chennai police with the help of Berhampur police while he was trying to escape.

As per reports, Pattjoshi had migrated to Chennai in early 1990s when he was 23 and found work at a printing press in an advertisement company there.

He reportedly met Indira, then 21, during work related assignment and both fell in love. Their marriage was solemnised on July 14, 1994. However, after a few months they separated following domestic disputes and Indira filed for divorce petition in local court which enraged Pattjoshi.

He allegedly attacked his wife, mother-in-law identified as Rama, 48, and brother-in-law Karthik, 24, at their Nanganallur residence in Chennai on August 9, 1995. While his mother-in-law died, both Indira and Karthik sustained grievous injuries in the attack.

Following the incident, Chennai police had launched an investigation after registration of a murder case at S8 Adambakkam police station. However, Pattjoshi managed to escape from Chennai and absconded.

Multiple police teams have camped and conducted raids at Berhampur and nearby places over the last 28 years but the man could not be arrested.

Since 1995, the accused had been hiding in various locations throughout Odisha and also in Surat, Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M was quoted by media as saying. He had shifted many houses during the past 28 years. The accused was staying with his wife and a daughter from his second marriage.

A week ago, a four-member police team from Adambakkam police station reached Gosaninuagaon following a tip-off and sought assistance for Berhampur police, which immediately provided a 11-member police team to arrest Pattjoshi.

After one week of search, police teams were able to trace the accused hiding in a location under Gosaninuagaon police station area. He was apprehended while he was trying to escape again near the railway station, police said.