ED Attaches Rs 11.35 Cr Assets Of Ex-OPHWC Officer Who Threw Rs 20 Lakh From Roof In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 11.35 crore of Pratap Kumar Samal, a former deputy manager-ranked officer of Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OPHWC), and his family members under provisions of PMLA, 2002, the central probe agency tweeted on Thursday.

Samal was arrested by Odisha Vigilance on November 10, 2021, after the anti-corruption wing traced movable and immovable properties amounting to over Rs 14.87 crore, which was 1,021 per cent of his known sources of income. His assets were then billed as one of the highest disproportionate unearthed in the state. He allegedly owned at least 25 plots, and three buildings including a 5-storey in Bhubaneswar, had bank deposits of Rs 1.61 crore and paid an annual insurance premium of nearly Rs 57.72 lakh.

It was also reported that he threw a bag containing around Rs 20 lakh in cash to the terrace of his neighbour at IRC village while the anti-corruption wing’s officials were waiting at his doorstep on November 9, 2021.

On November 18, the same year, the state government ordered his compulsory retirement.

He was, however, granted bail in January last year after the anti-corruption agency failed to file chargesheet within 60 days.

Samal had completed his diploma in civil engineering in Bhadrak in 1987 and joined OPHWC on August 14, 1988, as a junior engineer in Bhubaneswar head office. On promotion to the rank of deputy manager in 2013, he worked at Rourkela, Cuttack, Balangir and Keonjhar. The officer joined duty in Bhubaneswar in 2019 and and drew a monthly salary of Rs 71,000.

On Wednesday, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 66 lakh of former additional chief conservator of forest (ACCF) Abhay Kant Pathak. It included Rs 20 lakh paid at Hotel Taj Lake Palace in Rajasthan’s Udaipur for his son Akash’s lavish wedding with Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi.