BHUBANESWAR: Vigilance on Wednesday raided the property of Rama Chandra Satpathy, an assistant executive engineer posted in Athamallik block of Angul district, and found him to be in possession of 21 high value plots and other assets worth crores, disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Basing on allegations that Satpathy had amassed disproportionate assets, the anti-corruption agency carried out simultaneous searches at the property linked to him at eight places in Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack and Kalahandi districts.
During the raids, Satpathy and his family members were found in possession of 20 plots in Dhenkanal and one in Baranga, a two-storey building spread over 5,000 sq/ft in Dhenkanal, gold ornaments weighing 350 gm, bank/postal/insurance deposits to the tune of over Rs 1.06 crore, household articles worth Rs 17.31 lakh and two cars.
The Vigilance officials also conducted searches at the house of Satpathy’s son-in-law, who is a medical officer at Junagarh CHC in Kalahandi, and recovered Rs 23.95 lakh cash. On the day, searches were carried out at Satpathy’s two-storey house in Dhenkanal and his chamber in panchayat samiti office in Athamallik. This apart, his paternal house in Dhenkanal’s Banasingh village and houses of his relatives in Dhenkanal and Kalahandi districts were also raided.
“Rama Chandra Satpathy is being questioned to ascertain the source of money through which he amassed such huge wealth. More assets are expected to be unearthed as further searches are underway,” said a Vigilance officer adding, undervaluation of the 21 plots during the registration cannot be ruled out and their thorough valuation will be carried out.
Satpathy had joined service as a junior engineer in October, 1989. He worked as a junior engineer in different blocks like Malkangiri, Talcher, Kendrapara, Deogarh and Angul. In 2020, he was promoted to assistant engineer and posted in Kaniha block of Angul district. He was promoted to assistant executive engineer in 2022 and since then he has been posted in Athamallik.