5 days ago
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.
