Odisha Vigilance Arrests Irrigation Dept SE With 85 Plots, 5-Storey Bldg & Market Complex

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance on Saturday arrested superintending engineer (SE) of Irrigation, Balasore Division, Pravas Kumar Pradhan, recently promoted as Chief Engineer of Baitarani Barrage Division at Salapada in Keonjhar, for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

A Vigilance release said that his alleged disproportionate assets included a five-storey building, a market complex, 85 plots, 335 grams gold, deposits worth over Rs 78 lakh and Rs 11.7 lakh in cash, which he could not account for satisfactorily.

These were unearth during simultaneous searches at seven locations in Balasore district. Among the plots of Rs 2.70 crore sale deed value, 80 are at Jaleswar, four at Delanga, Puri, and one in Sunakania, West Bengal.

The vigilance officials tracked the plots purchased by Pradhan during their surveillance over the last three months. ““If we take the benchmark value of the plots, they would be more than Rs 6 crore while the actual market price would be more,” said an Vigilance official.

A native of Balasore, Pradhan joined as a stipendery engineer in 1994. He served in Mayurbhanj district from 1996 to 1999 and next three years in his home district during which he was promoted as an assistant engineer. Thereafter, he served 1 year each at Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj and 10 years in Embankment Division, Aul, Kendrapada, during which he promoted as assistant executive engineer and deputy executive engineer.

In December 2020, he returned to Balasore as executive engineer. He was promoted as superintending engineer in 2021 and chief engineer in July 2024.

In his the property statement submitted in 2023, he had mentioned a few of the 85 plots but nothing about the buildings, the release added.

Assets unearthed during the searches are as follows:

1. A five-storey building over 12,500 sqft area at Jaleswar.

2. One newly-constructed building with RCC roofing and boundary wall and market complex spread over 5650 sqft at Gobara Ghat, Jaleswar, Balasore.

3. 85 plots (80 at Jaleswar, 4 at Delanga in Puri, and one at Sunakania, West Bengal).

4. Rs 11,70,980 in cash

5. Gold ornaments weighing 334.55 grams, including one gold biscuit

6. A four-wheeler (Indica) and a two-wheeler ( Honda Activa)

7. Bank, postal & insurance deposits worth Rs.78,02,779

8. Household articles worth over Rs.6.63 lakh.