Vigilance deptt seizes ₹2.5 cr unaccounted cash, assets from Odisha chief engineer
The Odisha vigilance department on Friday recovered over ₹2 crore in unaccounted cash and other assets from the residences of Baikuntha Nath Sarangi, chief engineer (roads) of rural works division in the state rural development department.
The officials said they found the cash, stashed in bundles of ₹500 currency notes, from two houses belonging to Sarangi in Bhubaneswar and Angul. While ₹1.21 crore was recovered from his apartment in Bhubaneswar, another ₹1.30 crore was seized from his Angul residence, amounting to ₹2.5 crore in cash.
'When vigilance officials arrived at Sarangi's residence in Bhubaneswar, he started throwing cash bundles of ₹500 notes through the window of his flat. However, that was later recovered by the vigilance team in the presence of witnesses,' director of state vigilance Yeshwant Jethwa said.
Officials also found that Sarangi owned two double storeyed residential buildings in Angul, a flat in Bhubaneswar, one flat in Puri, along with 7 patches of land on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar and Angul. Apart from this, he also had equity investments worth ₹2.70 crore, bank and insurance deposits worth ₹1.5 crore, and a locker maintained at Axis Bank in Angul in the name of his wife.
Officials had not opened the bank locker till this report was filed.
The rural development department is mandated to provide remote connectivity and construct and maintain government buildings in interior areas. Besides implementing the schemes and programmes in general, the organisation provides emergency support services during natural calamities.
Sarangi, who was recently transferred to Bhubaneswar from Angul, was in charge of implementing rural connectivity programmes under different schemes like NABARD, assistance under RIDF, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and other state government schemes.
Prior to this, the biggest cash recovery in a disproportionate assets case was ₹3.41 crore, seized from the premises of Kartikeswar Roul, an assistant engineer of the Minor Irrigation Division in Ganjam district, in April 2022. In June 2023, an amount of ₹3.02 crore was recovered during raids on properties of Prasanta Kumar Rout, an Odisha Administrative Service officer.
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Time of India
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Representative image BHUBANESWAR: A day after Baikunthanath Sarangi, chief engineer with Odisha's rural development department, was caught on camera tossing bundles of cash onto his neighbour's terrace during a vigilance raid at his Bhubaneswar house, officers arrested him on his day of retirement Saturday on charges of possessing disproportionate assets worth over Rs 15 crore. Vigilance officers produced Sarangi before a designated court, which rejected his bail plea and remanded him in judicial custody. Officers said Sarangi's arrest was the 61st case against a Class I officer in the state this year in an ongoing anti-corruption drive. "Sarangi was found to be in possession of assets which were 483% more than his known sources of income," an officer said. He was booked under the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. During searches, vigilance sleuths found two double-storey residential buildings, a flat each in Bhubaneswar and Puri, and seven high-value plots on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar and Angul belonging to Sarangi. Cash amounting to Rs 2.5 crore was also found. Sarangi had invested Rs 2.7 crore in the share market and Rs 1.5 crore in insurance and banks. In another development, sleuths on Saturday conducted searches at locations related to assistant executive engineer (roads & buildings division-1) N Dillip Kumar Choudhury in Berhampur and Bhubaneswar for alleged disproportionate assets.
Time of India
a day ago
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Chief engineer arrested on retirement day for illegal assets of Rs 15cr
1 2 3 4 5 6 Bhubaneswar: A day after Baikunthanath Sarangi, chief engineer of rural development department, was caught on video tossing around Rs 50 lakh in cash onto his neighbour's terrace during a vigilance raid here, officers arrested him on his day of retirement on Saturday for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets worth over Rs 15 crore. Vigilance officers produced him before a designated court, which rejected his bail plea and remanded him in judicial custody. Officers said the arrest was the 61st case against Class-I officers in the state this year in the ongoing anti-corruption drive. "Sarangi was found to be in possession of disproportionate assets which were 483% more than his known sources of income," a vigilance officer said. He was booked under sections 13(2), 13(1)(b) and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. During searches, vigilance sleuths found two double-storey residential buildings, a flat in Bhubaneswar, another flat in Puri, and seven high-value plots on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar and Angul belonging to Sarangi. Cash amounting to Rs 2,56,29,299 was found, of which Rs 1,34,34,299 was in his wife's name. Officers faced a tough task retrieving Rs 50 lakh that Sarangi threw on the terrace of his neighbour from the window of his house in Dumduma area of the city upon seeing the sleuths. Vigilance found that Sarangi invested Rs 2.7 crore in the share market and Rs 1.5 crore in insurance and banks. Sarangi started his career as an engineer in the panchayati raj department in 1991 with a monthly salary of Rs 2,000. In Feb this year, he was promoted to chief engineer. In another development, vigilance sleuths on Saturday conducted searches at multiple locations related to assistant executive engineer (roads and buildings division-1), N Dillip Kumar Choudhury, in Berhampur and Bhubaneswar for alleged possession of disproportionate assets. The searches detected a double-storey building in Mayuree Vihar, Berhampur, a three-BHK flat in Saheed Nagar, Bhubaneswar, a 2-BHK flat at Dharma Nagar in Berhampur, 11 plots and several pieces of land in Berhampur. They found bank balance and investment worth over Rs 28.53 lakh and two wheelers and household articles worth over Rs 10. 11 lakh during search.
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