An Odisha government engineer was found in possession of millions of rupees in cash, several properties in his and his family’s name, and jewelery worth lakhs by the Odisha Vigilance Directorate, the state’s anti-corruption body, in a search operation on Saturday in connection with the disproportionate assets case.
Found management vigilance $2 crores in cash, five multi-storey buildings, 14 high value plots of land, 341 grams of gold jewelery and deposits worth over $45,000 during raids on properties linked to the engineer, news agency PTI reported on Saturday.
The engineer at the center of the investigation has been identified as Baikuntha Nath Behera, who works as Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) at the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) at Baliguda in Odisha’s Kandhamal district.
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Visuals after the raid show the Vigilance Department sorting through the recovered cash and other assets which will be taken for investigation. SP Sushant Kumar Biswal, Cell Division Vigilance, said the evaluation of buildings and plots is being done by the technical department and is yet to be completed, news agency ANI reported.
According to a statement by the department, properties belonging to Buhera and his family members were uncovered at several locations such as Bhubaneswar, Jajpur and Baripada.
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“We found at least four safes in the name of Buhaira and his wife. More than $2 crore cash was seized from two bank lockers. The agency quoted a senior vigilance official as saying that counting through bank machines is underway.
The department also said it was verifying the weight and value of gold, bank deposits, postal savings and other financial investments made by the lake.
The disproportionate assets were discovered after simultaneous raids were conducted at several locations including Bhubaneswar, Baripada and Dharmasala in Jajpur district and Baliguda in Kandhamal district, officials said.
Among those who conducted the search operations were teams comprising two additional police inspectors, five deputy inspectors of police, six inspectors and other support staff after search warrants were issued by the Special Magistrate, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar.
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Who is Baikuntha Nath Behera?
The accused government engineer started working in 1999 as a Junior Engineer (Civil) in Nabarangpur Building and started with a salary of Rs. $6,000, according to the Vigilance Department. He was later promoted to Assistant Engineer in October 2016, and meanwhile, he held several positions at ITDA.
He is currently working as Assistant Executive Engineer at ITDA in Ballygoda, a position to which he was promoted earlier this year in February.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
