Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance on Tuesday unearthed movable and immovable assets worth crores of rupees during simultaneous searches at seven locations linked to Umakant Samantaray, Assistant Director of Factories and Boilers, Sambalpur, in a disproportionate-assets case, official sources said.
The raids led to the detection of four multi-storeyed buildings, a 3-BHK flat, 24 high-value plots, 300 grams of gold, bank deposits of Rs 36.78 lakh, vehicles and household articles, the sources said. The overall valuation is likely to rise as searches are still under way.
The properties detected in the name of Samantaray and his family members include a duplex of about 2,900 sq ft at Nandan Vihar on Nandankanan Road in Bhubaneswar; a triple-storeyed building spread over around 4,000 sq ft at Tota Behera Sahi, Baliguali, Puri; and a double-storeyed building of about 4,000 sq ft at Subash Marg, Balugaon, in Khordha district.
Vigilance also found a building measuring around 2,460 sq ft near Indus College of Engineering at Barakuda near Jatani in Bhubaneswar, and a 3-BHK residential flat of about 2,000 sq ft at Sun City Apartment, Dhankauda, Sambalpur.
This besides, 24 high-value plots were detected, including eight in prime areas of Bhubaneswar and Jatani, three on the outskirts of Khordha, eight in and around Sambalpur town, three at Burla and two at Rengali.
Other assets recovered include gold ornaments weighing around 300 grams, deposits amounting to Rs 36.78 lakh, a Maruti XL6 Hybrid Zeta car, three two-wheelers — a Yamaha Fascino, Honda Dio and Scooty Pep — and household articles valued at about Rs 7.5 lakh.
The Vigilance Technical Wing is measuring and assessing the value of the buildings, flat and land parcels.
Seven Odisha Vigilance teams, comprising eight DSPs, 11 inspectors, 11 assistant sub-inspectors and other staff, carried out the searches on the basis of warrants issued by the Special Judge, Vigilance, Sambalpur, the sources said.
The raids were conducted at Samantaray’s 3-BHK flat at Dhankauda in Sambalpur; his duplex at Nandan Vihar in Bhubaneswar; a building at Barakuda near Jatani; properties at Baliguali in Puri and Subash Marg and Ashok Nagar in Balugaon, Khordha; and his office chamber at the office of the Deputy Director, Factories and Boilers, Sambalpur.
Born on March 7, 1982, Samantary joined government service as Assistant Director of Factories and Boilers at Rourkela on February 6, 2009, with an initial monthly salary of Rs 15,000, the sources said.
He served in Rourkela until August 5, 2013, before being transferred to Angul. He was posted in Sambalpur on December 1, 2020, and has continued there since then.
Vigilance officials said Samantaray was being examined to ascertain the source of the assets. Further investigation is underway.
