Bhubaneswar: An executive engineer of the works department was arrested Tuesday for allegedly amassing ill-gotten assets, the records of which he had buried in the ground of a trusted contractor’s house. The accused, identified as Arabinda Mohanty (60), was posted in Mayurbhanj district.The arrest, which comes a day after he was detained, follows searches at multiple locations linked to him. But what stumped investigators is the length to which Mohanty had gone to conceal documents related to his disproportionate assets.According to vigilance officials, Mohanty had allegedly buried documents in the Balasore home of the contractor. On Monday evening, vigilance personnel raided the house, and during questioning, he allegedly admitted to concealing the records underground. “We recovered documents relating to 20 plots linked to Mohanty and his family members after digging up a place in the contractor’s house,” said a vigilance official.Vigilance officials also claimed to have unearthed a benami bank locker, opened in the contractor’s name but allegedly operated for Mohanty’s benefit. Cash totalling Rs 2.77 lakh and gold ornaments purportedly belonging to the engineer were recovered from the locker, officials said. Vigilance is examining the contractor’s role in allegedly helping Mohanty conceal his assets and could initiate legal action against him.On Monday, while about Rs 8 lakh in cash was seized from properties linked to Mohanty, another Rs 2.5 lakh was recovered from his residence at Balianta, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, on Tuesday.Officials said searches have so far led to the detection of two multi-storeyed buildings, a five-acre farmhouse, 23 high-value plots, around 30 gm of gold, bank deposits worth Rs 69.69 lakh and cash totalling Rs 10.57 lakh.“We have arrested Mohanty under provisions relating to possession of assets disproportionate to known sources of income. The valuation of the assets and the extent of disproportion are currently being assessed,” said the vigilance official.Mohanty is due to retire after two months.
