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Odisha doctor arrested for taking bribe to give health certificate to ship crews
The doctor used to demand a bribe of ₹1,500 to 2,000 from each crew member to give them the clearance certificate for Covid -19, yellow fever disease and other public health epidemics
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials on Friday arrested a doctor at Odisha’s Paradip port who allegedly took bribe to give health clearance to disembarking crews of ships anchoring at the port.
The CBI officials said they have arrested Rajendra Narayan Panigrahi, an officer of the Port Health Organisation (PHO), Paradip, red-handed while accepting ₹54,000 bribes from crew members of a shipping company named Eminence Shipping Agencies.
“The doctor used to demand a bribe of ₹1,500 to 2,000 from each crew member to give them the clearance certificate for Covid -19, yellow fever disease and other public health epidemics. For that particular ship, he demanded ₹1 lakh, but later agreed to take ₹54,000. He was caught red-handed while taking the bribe money,” said a CBI official.
Searches were conducted at the premises of the doctor at Paradip, Cuttack and Balasore in the state which resulted in recovery of Rs.17 lakh in cash and US Dollar 20,558 and property documents pertaining to 5 land/houses at various places of Odisha and Hyderabad. He was produced before the court of special judge Bhubaneswar and later sent to judicial custody after his bail applications were rejected..
Yesterday, he demanded over ₹1 lakh from 70 crew members of the Eminence Shipping Agencies. It was when the crew members were giving him ₹50,000 that the CBI officials caught him red-handed.
