Odisha’s Crorepati Babu & Counting: Check What Vigilance Found; Over Rs 1.7 Crore Investments In Stock Market

Bhubaneswar: Unearthed so far…

* Rs 20 lakh. That’s the amount of cash he threw at a neighbour’s terrace when a Vigilance team came knocking.

* ₹14.87 crore. That’s the worth of assets he has amassed allegedly illegally. Vigilance said this figure was not the market value, which will be much higher.

* Rs 38.12 lakh. That’s the amount of cash seized from his house during raids.

* Rs 3.89 crore. That’s the value of a five-storey building in Bhubaneswar registered in the name of his wife.

Well, that’s not all.

Odisha Vigilance officials are still counting the illegal wealth amassed by Pratap Samal, a 53-year-old deputy manager at the Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OPHWC), drawing a monthly salary of about Rs 70,000.

And the list just gets longer and longer.

Now, documents seized by Vigilance show that Samal invested — not current value – over Rs 1.7 crore in shares and debentures. The exact figure is Rs 1,07,37,831.74.

He pays nearly ₹57.72 lakh as annual insurance premium, according to media reports.

When a Vigilance team arrived at his three-storey house in IRC Village here this week, Samal allegedly rushed to the top floor and threw a bag containing Rs 20 lakh cash on the terrace of his neighbour.

Samal and his family own several plots or buildings, scattered over the state. Several of them are in Bhubaneswar, which were raided. He has since been arrested.

Following is a list of his properties raided:

* Three-storey building in IRC Village, Bhubaneswar

* Six-storey building opposite Maa Bhagabati Temple near Biju Pattanaik College Chhak in Jayadev Vihar, Bhubaneswar

* Single-storey building at Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar

* Flat at Narendra Villa, Jayadev Vihar

* Three-storey apartment, Ananya Towers, at Balisahi in Basudevpur, Bhadrak

* Native house at Haripur in Simulia, Balasore

* Relative’s house at Haripur in Simulia

Samal, whose illegal assets are over 1,000 per cent of his known sources of income, reportedly had plans to invest in two Odia films.

After a Diploma in Civil Engineering from Baripada School of Engineering in 1987, Samal joined OPHWC in 1988 where he worked as an estimator till 1995. Promoted to deputy manager in 2013, he worked at Rourkela, Cuttack, Balangir and Keonjhar. He moved to Bhubaneswar in 2019.

Also recently, Vigilance unearthed disproportionate assets worth Rs 6.97 crore in raids on a former constable of Commisionerate Police, Prasanna Behera.

The ex-constable and his family members were found in possession of disproportionate assets worth Rs 6,97,15,057, which is more than 221 per cent of their known sources of income.

The previous record for disproportionate assets unearthed by Odisha Vigilance was of former Indian Forest Service officer Abhay Kant Pathak. Assets worth ₹9.35 crore were allegedly found in the raids last year.