Odisha Vigilance Arrests STA Jt Commissioner For Amassing Assets More Than Income

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance arrested a senior transport officer on Friday after conducting multiple raids on properties linked to him on charges of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The accused officer, identified as Pradeep Kumar Mohanty, OTES-1 (SR), Joint Commissioner, State Transport Authority (STA), Cuttack, will be produced in court soon, the Vigilance said in a press release.

Vigilance sleuths had carried out simultaneous searches on properties of Mohanty across nine locations including Cuttack, Puri, Nayagarh and Khurda and unearthed additional movable and immovable assets.

Following the raids, the accused officer was found in possession of disproportionate assets including four multi- storey buildings, Rs one crore paid to purchase one 4-BHK flat at BBSR, 2 benami flats at puri, 11 plots, one farm house spread over 14 acres, 2.1 kg gold, Rs.17.55 lakh cash, three four-wheelers (benami) and one benami two-wheeler among other assets for which he could not furnish a satisfactory answer.

Assets detected in the names of Mohanty and his family members are as follows:

1. A triple-storey residential building over 2400 sqft area at Maitri Vihar, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar.

2. A five-storey under construction building at Govindaprasad, Khurda.

3. A triple-storey under construction building over 7500 sqft area at Balukhand, Puri (the asset is suspected to be benami which is under verification).

4. One building at his native village Tangi, Khurda.

5. A farm house at Kusupalla, Nayagarh.

6. 11 high-value plots in Bhubaneswar, Khurda, Ranapur and Nayagarh, including one big patch of agricultural land.

7. Rs 17.55 lakh in cash.

8. 2.1 kg gold, including 3 gold biscuits (100 grams each) and 700-gram gold ornaments.

9. Three 4-wheelers (Mahindra XUV-700, Maruti Suzuki Brezza & Maruti Suzuki Swift) suspected to be benami and the same are under verification) & one two-wheeler (Bullet).

The measurement and valuation/assessment of the buildings/flat/plots/farm house are being carried out by Vigilance Technical Wing. Bank, Postal, Insurance deposits and other investments are also being ascertained, it added.