Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Monday unearthed two buildings, a flat in Bhubaneswar, 57 acres of land, comprising two farms, in Nabarangpur and a shopping comples during raids on Joint Director, Soil Conservation and Watershed Development, Dayanidhi Bagh on the allegation of accumulating assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
These aparts, deposits amounting to Rs 55 lakh and a ‘Benami’ car were also detected by Vigilance teams, comprising 10 DSPs, 8 inspectors, 10 ASIs, and other supporting staff, during simultaneous house searches at eight places in Bhubaneswar, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur on the strength of search warrants issued bySpecial Judge, Vigilance, Bhawanipatna.
The raids followed the arrest of four officials of the watershed wing in Rayagada district in May this year for allegedly misappropriating funds to the tune of Rs 20 lakh without digging the farm ponds in different villages of Kashipur block in the district under MGNREGS in 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years.
Bag had earlier served as Project Director in the department.
Assets unearthed in the name of Bagh and his family members are as follows:
1. A 3-BHK Flat over 1450 sqft area at Mahanadi Apartment, Gothapatana, Bhubaneswar.
2. One building (under construction) over 3000 sqft area at Padalguda near Majhiguda Chhaka, Nabarangpur town
3. One building at Housing Board Colony, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar.
4. A shopping complex with 5 shops over 1400 sqft area near Nabarangpur town.
5. A farmhouse spread over 40 acre at Biriguda, Nabarangpur, with drip irrigation facility with investment of around Rs 1 crore.
6. Another farmhouse spread over 6 acres at Phatakote, Nabarangpur, with drip irrigation facility with investment of around Rs 34 lakh.
7. 11 acres of land on the outskirts of Bhawanipatna town.
8. Bank deposits worth Rs 55 lakh.
9 1 four wheeler (Brezza) benami car which is under verification.
The measurement and valuation/assessment of the above buildings/flat/farm houses/ land are being carried out by the Vigilance Technical Wing. Other deposits, investments are also being ascertained.
Further searches are underway, a Vigilance release said.
