Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Monday conducted simultaneous raids at six properties linked to Bhanja Kishore Behera, a Senior Revenue Assistant (SRA) of Naugaon Tehsil in Jagatsinghpur arrested on August 12 for misappropriation of over Rs 3 crore of government funds.
An audit-driven investigation by the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department had uncovered a decade of systematic fraud executed between financial years 2011–12 and 2021–22 while Behera served as the SRA at the Tirtol Block office. The anti-corruption wing revealed that Behera, in collusion with former Panchayat Executive Officer Pradipta Kumar Mallik and late Assistant Executive Engineer Rajdeep Hansdah, tampered with official disbursal documents, fabricated salary registers, and submitted inflated bills far exceeding sanctioned budget allocations. Embezzled funds were directly diverted from the Tirtol sub-treasury into their personal savings accounts. Over Rs 1.74 crore channeled into Behera’s own State Bank of India account.
During further interrogation by a team of Odisha Vigilance, Behera admitted to have acquired assets, including a palatial building of 7,000 sqft, tent house, and other valuables with misappropriated amount of around Rs 2 crore.
The raids are currently underway at these following places:
1. A residential double-storey building over 7,000 sqft area at Patenigaon, Jagatsinghpur
2. A tent house of area over 4000 sqft area at Patenigaon, Jagatsinghpur.
3.Another double-storey building over 3000 sqft area at Patenigaon.
4. Behera’s office at Naugaon Tehsil, Jagatsinghpur.
5.Previous place of his posting at the office of BDO, Tirtol, Jagatsinghpur.
6. House of his relative at Sanakorkora village, Jagatsinghpur.
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