DA Case: ED Seizes Ex-Forest Official’s Assets Worth Rs 40 Lakh In Bhubaneswar

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached movable assets in form of bank balances as well as immovable assets located in Bhubaneswar worth Rs. 40.20 lakh belonging to former forest official Biraj Mohan Mohanty and his wife Sibanee Mohanty under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, in connection with a disproportionate assets (DA) case.

The ED case is based on an FIR registered against Mohanty, an erstwhile Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) in the office of District Forest Office, Wild Life Division, in Odisha’s Bhadrak and his wife Sibanee under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018). A chargesheet in this regard has also been filed in the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Balasore.

In a release on Monday, the ED said that an investigation revealed that Mohanty illicitly enriched himself and his family by acquiring assets to the tune of Rs 57.60 lakh disproportionate to his known sources of income. “He acquired the proceeds of crime, through commission of scheduled offence, which were concealed and invested in creation of various assets in his name as well as his family’s name to hide their source and project them as untainted,” it said.

The properties to the tune of Rs 40.20 lakh acquired by accused persons have accordingly been attached under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, it added.