Delhi cop flies to Odisha for a ₹2 lakh bribe. CBI catches him, then his boss: Officials

Delhi Police inspector Sajjan Yadav and constable Amit Lahucha were arrested by the CBI on bribery charges

Published on: Apr 24, 2022, 23:44:32 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday arrested an inspector and constable of Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar on charges of taking a ₹2 lakh bribe from a local journalist to omit his name from the charge sheet.

A man rides his bicycle past India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters building in New Delhi, (REUTERS File Photo)

Constable Amit Lahucha was arrested by a CBI team in Bhubaneswar after he allegedly received ₹2 lakh from journalist Udaynath Sahu, who complained to the CBI about the bribe demand. After Lahucha allegedly told the CBI team that he was collecting the money on behalf of EOW inspector Sajjan Yadav, the police officer was arrested by a CBI team in Delhi.

According to the CBI, Sajjan Yadav was the investigating officer in a case relating to Bhubaneswar-based journalist Manoj Kumar Seth who was arrested in January this year on charges that he created a fake email account in the name of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath back in 2016 and sent out letters to public sector companies in the name of Yogi Adityanath, then a Lok Sabha MP, that asked the state-run firms to place advertisements in little-known newspapers edited by Manoj Kumar Seth.

This wasn’t the first time that Seth had been named in a criminal case. In July 2000, he was arrested by the Cuttack Police on charges that he blackmailed an executive engineer of Odisha’s public works department, threatening to publish fake news reports about him.

The investigating officer of the case, Sajjan Yadav had been allegedly threatening to implicate Udaynath Sahu in this case as an accused - he was a witness - if he didn’t pay a bribe. CBI said inspector Sajjan Yadav allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹4.5 lakh but later settled for ₹4 lakh.

Sajjan Yadav allegedly sent constable Lahucha to collect the ₹2 lakh from Sahu at the Biju Patnaik airport in Bhubaneswar on Sunday when he was arrested.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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