BHUBANESWAR: State Vigilance on Friday arrested social welfare officer Jayanti Behera, posted in the Department of Woman and child development in Bhubaneswar, for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets to the tune of about Rs 4 crore.
Vigilance’s initial investigation suggests Behera minted lakhs of rupees by forging bills and short-supplying the articles, including food, to the self-help groups (SHGs) under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme. The anti-corruption agency’s officers suspect she managed to accumulate illegal wealth mainly through the supply of food items like chhatua powder (mix-grain) for children.
“We are investigating to ascertain whether suppliers were providing food to SHGs as per bills passed by Behera or not. It is possible that the materials supplied were less than the bills passed by her and she was possibly getting a major cut out of it,” said a Vigilance officer.
The social welfare officer and his family members were found in possession of bank, insurance and postal deposits amounting to over Rs 1.61 crore, two 3BHK flats in Bhubaneswar, a three-storeyed building and a double-storeyed building in Ganeswarpur and a three-storeyed building in Firingpatna.
Behera, who was earlier posted as district social welfare officer in Balasore, was also found in possession of eight plots in Balasore, silver ornaments of 2.112 kg and gold jewellery and household articles worth more than Rs 7.39 lakh. Vigilance on Thursday carried out simultaneous searches at the property linked to her at 11 locations in Balasore, Bhadrak and Bhubaneswar.
After inquiry, she was found in possession of disproportionate assets to the tune of 145 per cent of her known sources of income which she could not account for satisfactorily. A case was registered against Behera and her two sons and she was arrested on Friday, said a Vigilance officer.
Behera joined the service as a supervisor in December 1985 and was promoted to social welfare officer in 2018. She was reportedly drawing a salary of more than Rs 70,000 per month.