Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance on Saturday arrested Chief Engineer of Rural Works (RW) Department, Baikuntha Nath Sarangi, after unearthing huge assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
A Vigilance statement said that Sarang has been placed under arrest for possession of disproportionate assets and will be forwarded to the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Angul.
Based on searches conducted on properties of Sarangi since Friday, he was found in possession of disproportionate assets including cash seized over Rs 2.56 crore, two multi storeyed buildings, two flats, seven high value plots, bank deposits Rs 1.5 crores, investment in shares, mutual fund & insurance Rs 2.7 crores, gold over 1.141 kg, 15 imported costly wrist watches etc, which he could not account for satisfactorily.
Earlier on Friday, the Chief Engineer, in a bid to escape the raid, threw bundles of Rs 500 notes out of the window of his flat in Bhubaneswar as the vigilance officers arrived. Cash concealed in a carton was also recovered
Sarangi joined government service on September 30, 1991, as stipendiary engineer in Kaniha block under Panchayati Raj Department consolidated pay of Rs 2,000/month. Then, he worked as stipendiary engineer in different blocks across the state of Odisha till July 1999. On October 15, 1999, he was regularised as assistant engineer and posted to PWD Division, Sundargarh. He worked under different PWD Divisions and RD Sub-Division, Talcher, till 2012. In 2014, he was promoted to the rank of assistant executive engineer and posted to RD Sub-Division, Athamallik. In October 2016, he was promoted to the rank of executive engineer and posted to RD Division, Deogarh. In January- 023, he was promoted as additional chief engineer and since February 2025, he had been serving as chief rngineer, Plan Roads, RW Department.
