Berhampur: Odisha State Vigilance on Monday recovered another 703 grams of gold and 375 grams of silver jewellery from the possession of Baikuntha Nath Behera, 52, the assistant executive engineer of Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Baliguda, in Kandhamal district, who was arrested on Sunday for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets to his known sources of income.With this, the total amount of gold recovered from the possession of the accused went up to 1.25 kg (worth around Rs 1.9 crore), the vigilance sources said.The vigilance sleuths found the latest haul of gold and silver ornaments following the search of his fifth locker operated in the name of his spouse in a bank in Bhubaneswar. Till Sunday, the sleuths had found disproportionate assets — including the 552 gram gold ornaments — 798% more than his known sources of income.Apart from the gold, the other assets in the name of Behera and his family members, detected till Sunday, included over Rs 2 crore cash, six multistorey buildings (four of them in Bhubaneswar) of a total area of over 21,000sqft, 14 high-value plots, a car, household articles worth Rs 44.35 lakh and deposits of Rs 45 lakh. He could not explain the sources of the properties satisfactorily, sources said. The total amount of his properties, both movable and immovable, is under calculation, they added.A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018, was registered against Behera and his spouse in the vigilance cell, and further inquiry is on.Behera joined the govt service on Aug 16, 1999, as junior engineer (civil) in Nabarangpur district with a monthly salary of Rs 6,000. On Feb 12 this year, he was promoted to the rank of assistant executive engineer and posted at ITDA, Baliguda, in Kandhamal district. Sources said Behera was the fifth person from whom the vigilance seized more than Rs 1 crore cash in the last two years. The highest recovery of over Rs 4.28 crore cash was from Debabrata Mohanty, deputy director of mines, Cuttack circle, on Feb 25, followed by Baikuntha Nath Sarangi, chief engineer (plan roads) in rural works department (Rs 2.56 crore) on May 30 last year, and Santanu Mohapatra, deputy director, watershed, in Malkangiri (Rs 2.08 crore) on Feb 6, 2025.The other major cash seizure was of Rs 1.43 crore from Ram Chandra Nayak, deputy range, Jeypore forest range, in Koraput district on July 25 last year.
