Odisha Pollution Control Board Officer, BRIT Amin In Vigilance Net

Bhubaneswar: Vigilance sleuths have arrested a regional officer of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) on charges of possessing unaccounted money.

On receiving information that the accused, Hadibandhu Panigrahi had collected unaccounted money worth Rs 96, 000, a vigilance team intercepted his private vehicle on Thursday night while he was heading towards his residence at Khandagiri.

Following a search, cash to the tune of Rs 96, 500 and one gold chain weighing around 10 gram were recovered from Panigrahi’s possession.

Later, anti-corruption officials raided Panigrahi’s office at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district and his house at Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar.

Documents related to the acquisition of immovable and movable assets such as one plot in Angul, a double storey building at Khandagiri, gold ornaments weighing 442 grams, silver weighing 1 kg 168 grams, one Travera vehicle, one Maruti Ritz car, a Maruti 800 car, a Honda Aviator scooter, a number of expensive household articles, one crusher unit, investments in LIC, bank deposits and other important documents belonging to the accused have been unearthed.

He was forwarded to the court on Friday.

In a related development, the Amin of Balasore Regional Improvement Trust (BRIT) Upendra Moharana was caught red-handed by vigilance sleuths on Saturday while accepting a bribe amounting to Rs 7, 000 from Subhendu Sekhar Das, a resident of Balia under Sahadevkhunta police limits in Balasore district allegedly for the approval of a building plan belonging to his son-in-law.