Bhubaneswar, Aug 18 (IANS) The Odisha Vigilance on Monday unearthed assets worth crores during simultaneous searches at locations linked to a senior official of the state government on the allegations of amassing properties beyond his known sources of income.

The accused officer, Surendra Behera, is currently posted at Superintending Engineer, Irrigation Division, Angul district.

As per Vigilance sources, on the allegation of possession of assets disproportionate to the known sources of income, simultaneous house searches were conducted on the properties of Behera at eight places in Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Sundargarh, Angul and Ganjam on Monday.

The places where the house searches have been carried out include the paternal and in-laws houses in Purusottampur area of Ganjam district, government quarters and office room in Angul, etc.

“As many as eight teams of Odisha Vigilance comprising three Deputy Superintendents of Police, ten Inspectors, four Assistant Sub-Inspectors, and other supporting staff conducted the search on Monday the strength of Search Warrants issued by the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Sundargarh,” said a senior vigilance officer.

During the searches, the vigilance sleuths found Behera and his family members are in possession of one triple storeyed building located at Sundargarh Town, worth over Rs1.11 crore, one double storeyed building at Rourkela, two flats in Bhubaneswar, four high value plots including one each in Sundargarh and Rourkela and two in Purusottampur area of Ganjam district, etc.

In another significant development, the Confiscation Court (Authorised Officer’s Court), Vigilance, Bhubaneswar, on Monday Passed order for the confiscation of the immovable and movable assets belong to Swarnalata Pradhan, widow of late Basanta Kumar Pradhan and the co-accused in Disproportionate Assets (DA) case registered in 1990.

The disproportionate assets include one multi-storeyed building at Tulasipur in Cuttack, one building at Laxmisagar in Bhubaneswar, a farm house of area 5.02 acres located at Athagarh, Cuttack, Bank and Postal deposits.

As per reports, during raids at properties linked to Basanta Kumar, former Deputy Director, Social Forestry, Bhubaneswar, the Vigilance sleuths found him and his wife Swarnalata possessing assets beyond his legal sources of income. Basanta Kumar was convicted in the DA case by the court on January 27, 2012.

Meanwhile the special court on Monday ordered for the confiscation of properties possessed by Swarnalata, a co-accused in the case.

–IANS

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