ROURKELA: The Vigilance on Tuesday arrested the superintending engineer of the Irrigation division in Angul on charges of possessing disproportionate assets worth 206 per cent of his income.
Rourkela Vigilance SP SN Panigrahi said a confidential inquiry had been initiated after allegations of illegal wealth surfaced against the engineer, Surendra Behera (59), following which a search warrant was obtained from the Vigilance court.
Vigilance sleuths carried out searches at different places linked to him and his family at multiple locations across the state on Monday and Tuesday. According to an official statement, several movable and immovable properties worth crores were unearthed during the raids.
The detection included a triple-storey building of 4,200 sq ft in Sundargarh town valued at over Rs 1.11 crore, a double-storey building of 3,500 sq ft at Chhend Colony in Rourkela, a 3-BHK flat of 1,575 sq ft and a 2-BHK flat of 1,240 sq ft at Ghatikia in Bhubaneswar. In addition, four high-value plots were traced at Sundargarh, Rourkela and Purusottamur in Ganjam district.
The movable assets seized during the search include Rs 2.33 lakh in cash, bank and postal deposits of `53.97 lakh, two two-wheelers and household articles worth Rs 18.41 lakh. A case was registered against Behera and he was subsequently arrested.