Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance has arrested three more government functionaries, including a treasury staffer, in connection with alleged misappropriation of public funds amounting to Rs 9.24 crore in the office of the Superintending Engineer, R&B Division-I, Bhubaneswar.
The arrested persons have been identified as Krushna Chandra Behera, senior accountant at the District Treasury Office of Bhubaneswar; Biswanath Das, senior assistant at R&B Division, Puri; and Kumud Sahoo, peon at R&B Division-I, Bhubaneswar. All three were produced before the Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar, a Vigilance statement said on Saturday.
The case involves alleged misappropriation of Rs 9,24,10,193 in the office of the Superintending Engineer, R&B Division-I, Bhubaneswar. Vigilance has registered a case under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Earlier, six accused persons, including prime accused Banalata Mohanty (Section Officer) and Bibhudutta Nayak (Junior Assistant), both of the SE, R&B Division-I office, were arrested on September 27 and remanded to judicial custody.
Investigation has showed that Bibhudutta Nayak transferred Rs 3.90 lakh online to Krushna Chandra Behera via PhonePe on 11 occasions between March 2025 and July 2026 to facilitate the passing of fake and fraudulent bills without objection.
Biswanath Das, who earlier served as Junior Assistant in the same office, allegedly provided the bank account details of his mother Nayana Das, his own account, and that of his relative Kanhu Charan Behera to the main accused for receiving misappropriated funds under heads such as provisional gratuity, unused leave salary and other contingencies.
Around Rs 50 lakh was credited to his mother’s account, Rs 15 lakh to Kanhu Charan Behera’s account and Rs 37 lakh to his own account. He is alleged to have transferred a part of these funds back to Bibhudutta Nayak and Banalata Mohanty via PhonePe while withdrawing the rest in cash.
Similarly, peon Kumud Sahoo allegedly provided his wife Bijuli Sahoo’s bank account details to the main accused. An amount of Rs 11,25,120 was credited to her account towards provisional gratuity. Sahoo is accused of transferring the amount to his own account and withdrawing it in cash in three instalments in connivance with the two principal accused.
Further investigation in the case is in progress.
