BHUBANESWAR: Vigilance on Saturday arrested two officials posted in the office of the superintending engineer (SE), Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division-I, Bhubaneswar, for allegedly misappropriating around Rs 9.24 crore government funds in the last five years.
The accused are section officer Banalata Mohanty and junior assistant Bibhudutta Nayak, both attached to the establishment section at the office of SE, R&B Division-I, Bhubaneswar. The duo was placed on suspension in this connection on September 7.
Officials of the anti-corruption agency said the two, in conspiracy with their associates, fraudulently generated fake sanction orders and bills from financial year 2022-23 to 2025-26.
These bills pertained to provisional gratuity, under-utilised leave salary in the names of retired employees and fake claims against the office contingency fund. These fraudulent bills were illegally and unauthorisedly processed through integrated financial management system (IFMS) to siphon off the government money, the Vigilance officials said.
On receiving the allegations, the agency registered a case and launched a probe into the matter. Vigilance officials said while genuine bills carried authentic beneficiary bank details, the forged bills contained substituted bank account numbers belonging to relatives and acquaintances of the accused
“A total of 77 bank accounts belonging to 48 people, including the son, the driver and associates of Mohanty, as well as brothers and relatives of Nayak used to receive the misappropriated funds,” they officials added.
Investigation revealed the account holders transferred some money back to the two officials or withdrew cash and handed it over to them. The SE office detected the embezzlement of funds and initiated an inquiry into the matter.
The department has so far managed to recover the misappropriated money amounting to Rs 3.96 crore from the duo. “A case was registered in this connection under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act and Mohanty and Nayak were apprehended. Investigation is continuing and further action will be taken accordingly,” said a Vigilance official.