ROURKELA: The Excise superintendent of Rourkela division was arrested on Sunday on charges of possessing assets worth Rs 93 lakh, which is reportedly 100 per cent higher than his known sources of income.
The officer, Dhaneswar Barad (47), was remanded in judicial custody till September 25 after being produced before the Vigilance court in Sundargarh town. Barad was arrested with `5 lakh in alleged ill-gotten cash on Friday night, following which simultaneous raids were conducted at two locations, leading to the detection of assets allegedly disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Rourkela Vigilance SP Harekrishna Majhi said Barad had joined the Excise division in Rourkela in April and that the Vigilance department had prior information about his collection of illegal money from licensees of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) shops. Accordingly, Barad was kept under constant surveillance by the vigilance department.
Majhi said reliable information was received on Friday night that Barad had collected a substantial amount of illegal cash. Vigilance sleuths stationed near the excise office intercepted the vehicle in front of the office and recovered the cash from the possession of the salesman, Gadadhar Pati.
During questioning, Pati reportedly admitted that Barad had handed over the cash to him for delivery at his residence, Majhi said. When confronted, Barad also admitted that the cash belonged to him but failed to provide a satisfactory explanation regarding its source or legality, he added.
The Vigilance SP said simultaneous raids were subsequently conducted at Barad’s residence in Civil Township, Rourkela, and a double-storey building at Raghunathpur in Bhubaneswar to identify assets allegedly disproportionate to his known sources of income.
So far, the Vigilance officials have detected a 2,700-sq-ft double-storey building at Raghunathpur in Bhubaneswar, a plot in Bhubaneswar, three plots on the outskirts of Nayagarh and bank deposits of around `33.97 lakh. The total value of the assets detected so far is around `93 lakh, which is allegedly 100 per cent higher than his known sources of income. Further probe is on.
