BHUBANESWAR : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth `2.04 crore under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with a disproportionate assets case registered against Maheswar Pradhan, ex-divisional manager of Odisha Forest Development Corporation limited, Angul.
In January 2020, Vigilance officers had conducted simultaneous searches at Pradhan’s property over allegations of amassing disproportionate assets. Searches were conducted at Pradhan’s flat at Patia area, two-storey building in Jagamara here, two-storey building under Pipili police limits, IOCL fuel station at Pallahara, single-storey building at Kansar and his office chamber in Angul.
Pradhan and his family members were found in possession of assets amounting to over Rs 2.65 crore, including over Rs 1.26 crore deposits in different banks, post offices and financial institutions. In a related development, ED has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 1.67 crore under PMLA in connection with a disproportionate assets case registered against Rabi Narayan Rath, senior travelling inspector (accounts) of East Coast Railway in Bhubaneswar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had conducted raids at the house of Rath in City’s Kolathia area in February last year for allegedly accumulating disproportionate assets to the tune of over Rs 1.19 crore.
CBI officers had received information that Rath had amassed movable and immovable assets by illegal means between April 1, 2006 and November 30, 2020.