Odisha: Vigilance Raids On Mining Officer’s Flat Unearth Rs 4 Crore
Offices found large quantities of unaccounted cash concealed in trolley bags and almirahs at his apartment in Patia.
Bhubaneswar : In one of the largest anti-corruption crackdowns in Odisha in recent years, the state Vigilance department on Wednesday seized more than Rs 4 crore in cash from the Bhubaneswar residence of a senior mining official, marking what authorities describe as the biggest single cash recovery in the agency’s history.
The recovery was made from the Shree Vihar flat of Debabrata Mohanty, Deputy Director of Mines for the Cuttack Circle, following his arrest in a trap operation on Tuesday. Mohanty, who joined the mines department as junior officer in 2004, was allegedly caught while accepting a bribe of Rs 30,000 from a licensed coal trader, officials said.
Subsequent searches conducted at multiple locations linked to the officer led to the discovery of large quantities of unaccounted cash concealed in trolley bags and almirahs at his apartment in Patia. Vigilance officials said the seized currency notes are being counted and verified to determine the final amount, which is estimated to exceed Rs 4 crore.
Simultaneous raids were carried out at Mohanty’s residential flat in Bhubaneswar, his ancestral home at Mathasahi in Bhadrak district, and his office chamber in Cuttack as part of a disproportionate-assets investigation initiated after the trap case.
Apart from the large cash haul, officials recovered Rs 1.20 lakh from the officer’s office drawer and personal possession. The searches also yielded gold ornaments weighing about 130 grams, documents relating to 15 savings bank accounts and 20 mutual fund accounts, and other financial records now under scrutiny.
Investigators have further identified immovable assets allegedly linked to the officer, including a double-storeyed residential building measuring around 2,400 square feet at Pahala on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
Officials said the searches were continuing at the time of filing this report and indicated that additional recoveries could be made as the investigation progresses. The Vigilance department is examining the financial trail to determine whether the assets are disproportionate to Mohanty’s known sources of income.
The Vigilance department said further details would be disclosed after completion of the searches and verification of seized materials.
