BHUBANESWAR: Around 161 government officers landed in the Vigilance dragnet for indulging in corruption last year. Those arrested include 23 Class I officers, 28 Class II, 104 Class III employees, two Class IV and four other public servants. The anti-corruption agency also nabbed 14 private individuals taking the number of arrests in the state to 175.
In its annual report released on Wednesday, the Vigilance Directorate informed that corruption cases were registered against 475 persons - 46 Class I officers, 40 Class II, 231 Class III employees, four Class IV employees, 58 other public servants and 96 private individuals - and 161 of them were arrested.
Out of the total cases, 92 were registered for amassing disproportionate assets by 111 public servants and 44 private persons. The value of the total disproportionate assets stood at Rs 107.60 crore. Vigilance officers registered 12 disproportionate assets cases against Class I officers and 17 against Class II officers.
The highest amount of disproportionate assets in the state was found from Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation’s (OPHWC) former deputy manager Pratap Kumar Samal. He was found having assets amounting to a whopping Rs 14.88 crore, over 1,000 pc of his known sources of income.
Similarly, Vigilance officers laid traps to nab 98 public servants including 15 Class I officers, 13 Class II officers, 70 Class III employees, four Class IV employees and five other public servants while accepting bribe money of `20.13 lakh.