Bhubaneswar: Six more flats and another commercial space in a mall were unearthed during further raids on an assistant engineer (AE) of Roads and Buildings Division-III in Bhubaneswar, Ashok Kumar Panda, the Odisha Vigilance informed on Thursday.
Apart from assets unearthed earlier, Panda has acquired more properties at the following places:
* One flat at Royal Habitat, Jatni, Khurda.
* One shopping space at DLF Cyber City, Bhubaneswar.
* One flat at Grace Apartment, Bhubaneswar.
* One flat at Grand Awas, Phulnakhara, Cuttack
* One flat at Utkal Utopia, Pahala, Bhubaneswar.
* One flat at Tower-9 of Vipul Garden, Bhubaneswar.
* One Benami flat at C093, 9th Floor, Cosmopolis, Bhubaneswar.
* Plots at Lavanya Cosmos plotting project, Kuspangi, Athagarh, Cuttack.
Panda came under scanner after investigation into a disproportionate case, pertaining to fellow assistant engineer Raja Kishore Jena, revealed a flat jointly registered in the names of their wives. During the subsequent crackdown, the AE attempted to throw cash and gold jewellery from the window and hid inside his flat at Cosmopolis in Bhubaneswar with his family by locking it from outside to evade a search by vigilance sleuths. They also had their mobile phones turned off.
The anti-corruption agency heard noises inside the flat as it was about to seal it and found them there.
The bag, which was later found hanging under the window of Panda’s flat, contained Rs 1 lakh in cash, a 10 gram silver coin, about 60 grams of gold ornaments, a land document, an expensive phone and a vehicle key.
The Vigilance officials had earlier said that Panda owned a 4-BHK flat in a posh apartment, two retail stores at Utkal Kanika Galleria, another store at Symphony Mall, a four-storey building at Somnath Garden in Bhubaneswar’s Dumduma, a building at Dumduma Housing Board Colony and 8 high-value plots – 7 in Bhubaneswar and one in Puri.
These apart, 1.33 crore in cash, gold jewellery weighing 125.330 grams and 117.100 grams of silver ornaments, bank & postal deposits worth Rs 37.97 lakh, a four wheeler (Volkswagen Polo) and household articles worth around Rs 21 lakh were also recovered.
