Odisha: Vigilance comes across Rs 8 crore in assets, Rs 1.75 crore in cryptos in engineer's house
BHUBANESWAR: When the Odisha Vigilance raided the premises of senior engineer Nihar Ranjan Das on Friday, the anti-corruption bureau came across assets worth over Rs 8 crore. But what left the sleuths even more surprised was a whopping Rs 1.75 crore invested in cryptocurrencies.
Das, posted as Additional Chief Engineer of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Bhubaneswar circle, has accumulated massive movable and immovable assets that included eight plots and two houses.
But it was his cryptocurrency investment that attracted the attention of the Vigilance. When the raid was conducted in Das' residence in Bhubaneswar, he reportedly flung documents related to investments in digital currencies along with his mobile phone from the window to keep them out of the search team’s sights.
However, the Vigilance officers seized the damaged mobile phone and about 38 documents related to investments in cryptocurrencies.
“Our initial investigation suggests that some of the accounts were opened by Das in different names to invest in cryptocurrencies. The email IDs used to open the accounts are similar too," said a senior Vigilance officer.
The officers have seized a diary in which Das has mentioned all the details of his investments in digital currencies. This is for the first time the anti-corruption agency of the State has come across digital currency investment from a public servant which forced them to take the assistance of crypto experts from New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to thoroughly examine the seized documents.
Vigilance officers suspect that the value of investments made by Das in cryptocurrencies may be even more and further details will be ascertained during the investigation.
Besides investments in cryptocurrencies, Das and his family members were found in possession of a 3-BHK flat in Kharvela Nagar area in Bhubaneswar having a market value of Rs 32.5 lakh, eight plots in Sambalpur having a registered sale deed value of over Rs 1.27 crore and a three-storeyed building in the western Odisha district.
The other traced assets of Das include bank and insurance deposits to the tune of Rs 64.42 lakh, Rs 1.07 lakh in cash, gold ornaments weighing about 332 grams worth over Rs 10 lakh and household articles amounting to more than Rs 15.55 lakh.
Das was also found in possession of two four-wheelers worth about Rs 39 lakh and two Royal Enfield bullets costing Rs 3 lakh.
Das, who is Additional Chief Engineer (planning, monitoring, design and investigation), is supposed to retire three days later. So far, the value of his traced movable and immovable assets is estimated to be around Rs 8 crore.
The searches were conducted in three districts of Khurda, Sambalpur and Bargarh.