Three Class I Odisha officers held for corruption, Rs 22.61 lakh seized

By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: The state Vigilance arrested three Class I officers for corruption and seized over Rs 22.61 lakh money from them.

Acting on a tip-off about unlawful gratification, the anti-corruption company’s officers intercepted superintending engineer of Baitarani irrigation division Bidhan Chandra Sahu in Jajpur Town whereas he was continuing in the direction of Cuttack on Saturday. They recovered Rs 10.07 lakh which he couldn’t account for satisfactorily. Vigilance officers then performed searches on the home of the superintending engineer in Cuttack and located money price Rs 64,000. A complete of Rs 10.71 lakh money has been seized from Sahu and he has been arrested.

In one other incident, the vigilance officers intercepted State Pollution Control Board’s Panposh regional officer Prakash Kumar Mohapatra in Bhubaneswar and recovered over Rs 1.75 lakh money from him.

Similarly, the officers of anti-corruption wing trapped Pollution Control Board’s Balasore regional officer Narottam Behera close to Tangi whereas he was continuing in the direction of Cuttack in a employed cab. They recovered Rs 89,000 from him. During searches, the officers additional seized Rs 9.25 lakh from Behera’s home at Satya Nagar within the Capital metropolis. About seven groups consisting of two SPs, 9 DSPs and 7 inspectors performed the raids and arrested the three officers.

Three separate instances have been registered towards them by the Directorate of Vigilance. Vigilance Director Yeshwant Kumar Jethwa stated extra belongings of the three officers are anticipated to be unearthed as their financial institution lockers are being searched.

“Steps have been initiated to freeze their accounts. Verification of their deposits and land investments is. We will continue to make efforts to check corruption in the coming days,” he added.