Bhubaneswar, June 14: An official of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in Odisha was arrested by the CBI for taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a chartered accountant for approving applications about two companies, an official said on Saturday.

Anil Rath, Senior Social Security Assistant (SSSA), EPFO Regional Office, Berhampur, District Ganjam, was allegedly harassing the complainant by delaying the approval, the official said.

A case was registered by the CBI on June 12 against Rath on the basis of a complaint filed by Suraj Kumar Dash.

He was booked for the offence of demanding undue advantage/bribe by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal conspiracy under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Rath allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant to approve the Authorised Signatory Application of two employers — Jai Jagannath Infratech and Uttam Padhi, on the EPFO Portal.

Dash said the application was repeatedly rejected by Rath between March and May on the grounds of incomplete documentation.

“I visited the EPFO (Regional Office, Berhampur) again on June 11 to find out the reason why the application is under process. Where PRO Anil Rath demanded Rs 10,000 (for two employers at the rate of Rs 5,000 per company) to approve the Authorised Signatory Application,” said Dash in his complaint.

After negotiation, the accused agreed to accept a bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant, the CBI said.

On receiving a complaint from Dash, CBI, ACB, Bhubaneswar verified it on June 12.

The verification report which confirmed the demand of bribe said, “The complaint and its subsequent verification report, prima facie, disclose commission of cognizable offence punishable under section 61(2) of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita read with section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018), on the part of Anil Rath.”

The report also raised suspicion about the involvement of other officials in the alleged demand of a bribe.

“During verification of the complaint, Anil Rath is talking about some other officer of EPFO by addressing him as ‘Sir’. As the identity of that person has not been established during the verification, hence, his role will be looked into during the investigation,” said the report.

Patna, June 14: In a breakthrough, Patna Police on Saturday morning arrested notorious criminal Angesh Kumar following an encounter in the Khusrupur area on the outskirts of the city.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police Avakash Kumar, the arrest was the result of a well-planned operation based on specific intelligence. Angesh, wanted in over 18 criminal cases including attempt to murder, dacoity, arms possession, and loot, had been hiding in a village under the jurisdiction of Khusrupur police station.

“Acting on a tip-off, a special team led by the Khusrupur SHO raided the location early morning. While in custody, the accused tried to escape by attacking the police and opened fire using a concealed weapon. Our team retaliated swiftly and overpowered him,” SSP Kumar said.

During the exchange, Angesh sustained a gunshot wound to his leg. He was immediately taken into custody and admitted to a hospital. Police sources confirmed his injuries were minor, and he remains under medical supervision.

Police officials said that during preliminary interrogation, Angesh confessed to his involvement in more than a dozen serious criminal cases across Patna and neighbouring districts. He also revealed details about his possession of illegal firearms and previously looted items.

Following his confession, the police have launched search operations to recover the stolen property and weapons used in his crimes. A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has also reached the site to collect evidence, including spent cartridges and ballistic traces.

A fresh FIR has been lodged against Angesh under multiple sections, including attempt to murder, use of firearms in public, and violation of the Arms Act.

“This arrest is a significant step in our ongoing crackdown on organized crime and repeat offenders. Such operations will continue to maintain public safety and deter criminal activities,” the SSP added.

This comes a day after another notorious criminal was arrested in Vaishali following a similar police operation.

Kolkata, June 14: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has unearthed fresh evidence indicating the direct involvement of Azad Mullick, a Pakistani national arrested in Kolkata in April, in a major racket involving fake Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPICs), in addition to earlier charges of passport fraud and hawala operations.

According to ED sources, the agency has launched a deeper investigation following specific leads that point to Azad’s key role in facilitating fake EPICs, especially for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Mullick is already facing two serious allegations — involvement in a fake Indian passport syndicate and operating an underground hawala network from Kolkata.

The latest findings suggest that Azad had managed to penetrate local administrative networks to obtain and distribute forged voter IDs.

The ED has formally sought details of 78 EPIC cardholders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal.

Investigators suspect that at least 55 of these cards were arranged by Azad, with recipients primarily from the bordering districts of North 24 Parganas and Nadia.

The CEO’s office has, in turn, asked the district magistrates of these areas to verify the identities of the listed individuals, and a comprehensive report is expected to be submitted to the ED by the end of this month.

During interrogation, Azad reportedly admitted to being listed as a voter in the Dum Dum-Uttar Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas — one of the seven assembly segments under the Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat.

He is believed to have voted in both the 2021 and 2024 elections. The ED has requested the CEO’s office to furnish documents based on which Azad procured his EPIC.

The issue of foreign nationals acquiring Indian voter IDs has emerged as a politically charged matter in West Bengal, particularly ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.

In a related development on Friday, the CEO’s office reportedly removed Newton Das — a person holding dual citizenship of India and Bangladesh — from the electoral rolls.

Das, who was active in the student movement in Bangladesh last year, had been registered as a voter in the Kakdwip Assembly constituency of South 24 Parganas district.

Azad’s case, however, is even more complex. When the ED arrested him in April, seized documents initially indicated that he was a Bangladeshi national who had acquired Indian documents — including a passport — using fake credentials.

But on April 29, the ED informed a special court in Kolkata that Mullick had confessed to originally being a Pakistani citizen. He reportedly admitted to first obtaining Bangladeshi citizenship through forged documents, and subsequently using the same modus operandi to acquire Indian identity documents.