On Wednesday, officials from the Vigilance directorate seized Rs 1.12 crore in cash from Dr Sukant Jena posted at Charichhak community health centre (CHC) in Puri district.

Vigilance officers caught Jena red-handed while demanding and accepting an Rs 8,000 bribe from a patient’s relatives earlier in the day. They found a huge amount of cash worth over Rs 1 crore stashed in various bags in Jena’s house mostly containing Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denominations.  

Sources said that Dr Jena had demanded Rs 10,000 bribe from a woman for her cesarean section surgery but agreed to Rs 8000. The woman had developed labour pain, but still, the doctor compelled the cousin of the doctor to pay Rs 5,000 in advance to start the surgery. He was caught red-handed while he was accepting the remaining bribe amount of Rs 3,000.

The officers are probing into the matter and verifying whether Dr Jena was running a private clinic of his own. Vigilance Director YK Jethwa said that the investigation was being carried out to ascertain whether Jena has any other assets.

Source: The New Indian Express