

ROURKELA: Prasanna Kumar Patra, the soil conservation deputy director and watershed project director in Sundargarh district, was arrested and produced before Vigilance court in Sundargarh town in a disproportionate assets case on Saturday.
“After thorough search, assessment of inventory and calculation of income and expenditure, the assets of the accused officer were found to be 204 per cent in excess of all his known sources of income,” Vigilance SP Harekrishna Majhi told mediapersons. “Investigation in the case is in progress.”
A case has been registered at Rourkela Vigilance police station against Patra (57) and his wife. His wife has not yet been arrested, said a Vigilance source.
On Friday, Vigilance sleuths had conducted simultaneous search operations across six private properties of Patra and his family in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, besides his office and government residence in Sundargarh town. At the end of the day-long search, the Vigilance department detected movable assets of Patra valued at about `1.85 crore. Patra’s immovable properties include three double-storey buildings at Manchanath Villa in Bhubaneswar, one double-storey building at Balianta, one flat at Nayapalli, seven plots on the
outskirts of Bhubaneswar, and documents for advance payment of Rs.29.50 lakh for purchase of a flat in the state capital.