OPHWC Deputy Manager In Vigilance Net; Raids At 10 Properties, One Worth Rs 4 Crore

Bhubaneswar: Vigilance officials on Tuesday launched simultaneous raids and searches on the houses and properties of a senior Odisha Police Housing & Welfare Corporation (OPHWC) official. One of the properties in Bhubaneswar is valued at nearly Rs 4 crore.

Vigilance officials also seized cash worth Rs 38.12 lakh from his house.

Searches are under way at 10 properties linked to Pratap Kumar Samal, Deputy Manager, OPHWC, Bhubaneswar.

The properties are located in Bhubaneswar, Balasore and Bhadrak. The raids are being carried out following allegations that Samal has accumulated wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Among the properties being raided are:

* A five-storied building over khata no. 594, plot no. 991, area 105, in Gothapatana, Bhubanesawr, in the name of Sasmita Samal, his wife. It has a built-up area of 20,350 sq ft. The property, including building and land, is valued at Rs 3.89 crore.

* Four-storied building over plot no. N/6-235, IRC Village, Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar.

* Two properties at Jayadev Vihar, Bhubaneswar. One of them is a six-storied building located opposite Biju Pattanaik College Chhak.

* Single-storied building in Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar.

* Ground plus three-storied building named Ananya Towers located at Balisahi, Basudevpur, over plot no. 612/7821, in Bhadrak.

* Properties at Haripur in Simulia, Balasore.

Samal, born in 1968, completed his Diploma in Civil Engineering from Barapada School of Engineering, Bhadrak, in 1987. He joined OPHWC in 1988 as a Junior Engineer at its Bhubaneswar Head Office.

He has also worked at Kendrapara, Debagarh, Rourkela, Bolangir, Keonjhar and Cuttack. He came back to Bhubaneswar in 2019.