BHAWANIPATNA/BERHAMPUR: Vigilance officials stumbled upon assets worth crores of rupees during raids on the properties linked to the assistant engineer of General Public Health (GPH) section, Bhawanipatna Kishore Chandra Sahu on Wednesday.
Probing allegations against Sahu of amassing disproportionate assets, officials of the anti-corruption agency carried out simultaneous raids on his residence at Jaleswar temple road in Kalahandi’s Bhawanipatna town, the parental house at Balbaspur village in Narla block and chamber at GPH section office.
During the raids, the Vigilance unearthed bank and insurance deposits to the tune of Rs 1.54 crore, a triple-storey building in a 10,500 sq ft area valued at Rs 1.10 crore, two plots, cash of Rs 2.65 lakh, 441 gm gold jewellery, silver ornaments weighing 700 gram besides two two-wheelers and other household articles worth over Rs 5.47 lakh.
Three teams comprising an additional SP, three DSPs, four inspectors and other staff carried out the searches on the strength of search warrants issued by the Special Vigilance Judge, Bhawanipatna. Further search and verification is underway.
On the day, Vigilance officials caught an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Kiakata police station in Angul district red-handed while he was receiving Rs 8,000 bribe from the complainant at the Boudh bus stand. The accused ASI, Nabin Kumar Satapathy, had demanded Rs 10,000 bribe from the complainant, a cloth trader, to help his cousins in a case registered in Kiakata police station.
The ASI had already collected Rs 2,000 from the complainant a few days back and was receiving the rest bribe amount when he was apprehended. The entire bribe money was recovered from his possession and seized in the presence of witnesses.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches were launched on the house of Satapathy at Butupalli village in Boudh district and his office room at Kiakata. The ASI was arrested and produced before the Special Vigilance Judge at Phulbani. Further investigation is underway.