Two-year chase & a house well hidden: How Odisha Vigilance busted mines officer
BHUBANESWAR: The record-shattering recovery of Rs 4.27 crore cash from deputy director of mines Debabrata Mohanty and his subsequent arrest was result of Odisha Vigilance’s perseverance - a waiting game and meticulous planning.
Fifty-eight-year-old Mohanty was initially caught while allegedly accepting a Rs 30,000 bribe from a coal vendor to allow him to run his coal depot and transport permission.
The story actually began two years ago when the coal vendor had approached the Vigilance alleging harassment and bribe demands by another government servant. A trap could not be executed then but one Vigilance officer stayed in the game by maintaining contact.
The complainant recently approached the anti-corruption agency over Mohanty’s demands for gratification. However, he later developed cold feet apprehending that Vigilance action might hamper his business.
Sources said, the Vigilance officers had to provide counselling to the complainant and convinced him to go ahead. They even sent him a clip of the Bhagavad Gita to motivate him. It worked. The Vigilance then put Mohanty under surveillance. Mohanty, who served as deputy director (mines) of Cutttack circle, had kept his rented accommodation in Chandrasekharpur area of Bhubaneswar under wraps. He would go to any length to hide the place and even his driver had no clue of the flat where the Rs 4.27 crore was stashed. “He would ask his driver to drop him at distance from his flat so as not to give away his exact location. But we eventually found it,” said a senior Vigilance officer.
On Tuesday, the complainant and two Vigilance officers in plain clothes arrived at Mohanty’s office at about 3 pm. The officer had CCTV cameras installed outside his chamber and noticed a few other persons, including the two undercover officers, were waiting to meet him. He sent his peon to enquire about the two who claimed to be sand traders and said their tractor was seized.
The officer then called the complainant inside his chamber and was subsequently nabbed while accepting the bribe amount from him. Sources said to prevent searches at his Chandrasekharpur property, Mohanty said that he had only one house in Pahala area on the outskirts of the city.
However, Vigilance officers were aware that he was not disclosing the address of his rented flat. They went to the apartment and traced his flat but were perplexed when his wife allegedly denied knowing Mohanty.
The officers then asked Mohanty to call on his wife’s mobile phone. After her phone rang inside their flat, the curtains finally came down on the drama. Subsequent searches led to the recovery of the huge stash of cash.