A government engineer in Odisha was found to be in possession of crores of rupees in cash, several properties to his and his family’s name, and jewellery worth lakhs by Odisha’s Vigilance Directorate, state’s anti-corruption body, in a search on Saturday in connection with a disproportionate assets case.
The Vigilance department found ₹2 crore in cash, five multi-storey buildings, 14 high-value plots, 341 gm of gold jewellery and deposits worth over ₹45 lakh, during raids on properties linked to the engineer, news agency PTI reported on Saturday.
The engineer in the centre of the investigation is identified as Baikuntha Nath Behera, who works as assistant executive engineer (AEE) Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) in Baliguda in Odisha‘s Kandhamal district.
Visuals after the raid show the Vigilance department sorting out the cash and other assets recovered that will be taken for investigation. Cell Division Vigilance SP Sushant Kumar Biswal said that the valuation of the buildings and plots is being done by the technical department and is yet to be completed, reported news agency ANI.
According to a statement by the department, the properties related to Behera and his family members were detected at several locations such as Bhubaneswar, Jajpur and Baripada.
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“We have located at least four lockers in the names of Behera and his wife. More than ₹2 crore in cash has been seized from two bank lockers. Counting through bank machines is in progress,” PTI quoted a senior Vigilance official as saying.
The department also said that they are verifying the weight and value of the gold, bank deposits, postal savings and other financial investments done by Behera.
The disproportionate assets were unearthed after raids were conducted simultaneously at several locations including Bhubaneswar, Baripada, Dharmasala in Jajpur district and Baliguda in Kandhamal district, said officials.
Among those who conducted the searches were teams that comprised of two additional superintendents of police, five deputy superintendents of police, six inspectors and other supporting staff after search warrants were issued by the Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar.
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Who is Baikuntha Nath Behera?
The accused government engineer started working in 1999 as a junior engineer (civil) at Nabarangpur block and started with a salary of ₹6,000, according to the Vigilance department. He was later promoted to assistant engineer in October 2016 and in the mean time, he served in several positions under the ITDA.
He is currently serving as assistant executive engineer at ITDA in Baliguda, a position he was promoted to earlier this year in February.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)
