Vigilance raid on engineer unearths 20 plots

Bhubaneswar: Continuing its crackdown on corruption among government officials, the Odisha Vigilance on Monday unearthed movable and immovable assets worth crores of rupees during simultaneous searches of properties linked to a government engineer in Mayurbhanj district.

The Vigilance officials stated that the searches were conducted against Arabinda Mohanty, Executive Engineer of the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Sub-Division at Betanoti under the R&B Division, Baripada, in Mayurbhanj district, on allegations of possession of disproportionate assets (DA) beyond his known sources of income.

Simultaneous house searches were conducted at 10 locations across Mayurbhanj, Baleshwar and Khordha districts by Odisha Vigilance teams led by five Deputy Superintendents of Police and comprising eight Inspectors and other supporting staff. The searches were carried out on the strength of warrants issued by the Special Judge, Vigilance, Baripada, on Monday.

The Vigilance sleuths have so far detected two multi-storey buildings, a five-acre farmhouse with two fish ponds and a poultry farm, 20 high-value plots in and around Baleshwar town, Rs 2.77 lakh in cash, one four-wheeler and two two-wheelers during the searches.

The properties include a triple-storey building measuring around 3,500 sq ft at Angargadia in Baleshwar and a double-storey building measuring around 1,800 sq ft at Balianta on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar in Khordha district. The farmhouse is located at Basantapur in Balasore district.

The technical team of the agency is carrying out the measurement and valuation of the buildings, farmhouse and plots. The Vigilance officials also informed that two lockers maintained by his spouse and an associate are yet to be opened, while deposits and other investments in financial instruments are being ascertained.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Hans India