Odisha Vigilance seizes Rs 2.06 crore in cash, 422 grams of gold from govt officer
Vigilance officials investigating Santanu Mohapatra, the Deputy Director & PD, the Watershed Department in Malakangiri, continue to uncover large quantities of wealth amidst ongoing raids.
Officials report the discovery of Rs 2.06 crore in cash along with 422 grams of gold from Mohapatra’s residence.His real estate portfolio is notably expansive, featuring various landholdings throughout the state and a number of luxurious residences. Notably, he owns a three-storey house in Koraput, occupying an area of 6,000 square feet. Further inspections reveal he holds four valuable plots within Jeypore and Bhubaneswar.
Meanwhile, Mohapatra has been brought to Bhubaneswar for the inventory of his locker at SBI Bank, Kapilaprasad Branch.Mohapatra and his colleagues are suspected to have siphoned off government funds showing work done and making payments to labour accounts, which were then withdrawn and misappropriated. A large number of passbooks of labourers were recovered during searches at the residence of Sri Biswajit Mandal, DEO and Sri Amiyakanta Sahu, Contractual employee of the office.
It appears that the labourers’ bank accounts were being operated by these functionaries to smoothly carry out withdrawals and misappropriation of government funds. A separate enquiry has been launched in this regard, and files connected to works shown completed in the last 2 years have been brought for scrutiny.
Enquiry has also revealed that one Alekh Chandra Pradhan operating a Jan Seva Kendra at Jagannath Prasad, Ganjam was acting as a conduit of Mohapatra in bribe collection. He was collecting bribes online from contractors and others on behalf of Mohapatra, and transferring the same later to Mohapatra. During searches evidence of transfers done by Pradhan to the tune of more than Rs 1 Crore from 2019 till 2024 has been gathered.
Following this, the location of Pradhan was searched, and he is being interrogated further.’A total of Rs 2.06 crore in cash was recovered. Of this, approximately Rs 1.98 crore was seized from Mohapatra’s house, while the remaining amount was recovered from people connected to him. The vigilance also seized gold jewellery weighing 422 grams, bank, insurance, other deposits worth Rs 91 lakh, four high value plots in Bhubaneswar and Jeypore town, a four wheeler, two two-wheelers and household articles worth Rs 29 lakh during the search operation,’ said a vigilance spokesperson.
Mohapatra has been serving in the government since 1995, after completing his MSc in agricultural economics. He has worked in various capacities in the undivided Koraput and Ganjam districts for about three decades.The seizure of Rs 2.06 crore is among the top three largest cash recoveries in the history of Odisha’s Vigilance. In 2022, Rs 3.41 crore was seized from Kartikeswar Raul, an assistant engineer in the minor irrigation department. In 2023, Rs 3.12 crore was recovered from Prasanta Kumar Rout, an additional sub-collector in Nabarangpur.
