An alleged demand for a bribe to withdraw applications filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has put an activist in the dock, with the Odisha Information Commission asking police to probe the matter.
The commission’s Registrar has written a letter to Odisha’s Director General of Police, asking for an inquiry to be conducted into the alleged bribe demand by “habitual RTI applicant” Tankadhar Sahu, who is based in Balangir.
As per the commission, it received a complaint last week, along with a video clip, wherein Sahu was allegedly seen demanding a bribe from public information officers (PIOs) for withdrawing his RTI applications.
On scrutiny of records, it was seen that Sahu had filed hundreds of RTI applications at various departments, which are being adjudicated in different stages, officials said. He had started camping in Bhubaneswar and regularly demanded bribes from PIOs and first appellate authorities, who visited the Commission’s office for hearings, a senior officer at the Information Commission’s office alleged.
His method for allegedly extracting money from PIOs included requesting the commission for adjournment of cases during hearings, and after receiving the bribe, he would withdraw the cases, said the official.
“The matter was brought before the full Bench of the commission, where it was decided to refer the matter to police authorities along with the video clip as evidence,” read a note by the Registrar.
According to the Registrar, the commission has also decided to keep all of Sahu’s cases pending till the police inquiry is completed. The commission further directed all PIOs and first appellate authorities to keep his cases pending and to identify other such cases where RTI Act provisions were misused.
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Police sources said that as directed by the commission, a formal complaint would be lodged soon and a probe would be initiated into the allegations.
Sahu couldn’t be contacted for a comment on the matter.
