Bhubaneswar, June 6 (IANS) Odisha Vigilance on Saturday carried out simultaneous searches at nine locations associated with an assistant executive engineer (AEE) of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Baliguda in Kandhamal district, in connection with a disproportionate assets (DA) case.

The searches were launched following allegations that the engineer, Baikuntha Nath Behera, had amassed assets beyond his known sources of income during his service tenure.

The operation is being conducted based on warrants issued by the Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar, sources said. A Vigilance team led by two Additional Superintendents of Police, five Deputy Superintendents of Police, six Inspectors, and supporting staff carried out the coordinated raids across multiple locations in Bhubaneswar, Baripada, Dharmasala in Jajpur district, and Baliguda in Kandhamal district in the state.

Among the properties under scrutiny are four residential buildings in Bhubaneswar, including a four-storey house at Niladri Vihar, a three-storey building at Sailashree Vihar, and two double-storey houses at Kanan Vihar and Chandrasekharpur. Officials are also searching a double-storey ancestral house at Pandua near Dharmasala College in Jajpur district.

Vigilance teams have further extended the searches to the residences of two of Behera’s relatives in Baripada and Pandua. His office chamber at the ITDA office in Baliguda and his official residence near the office premises are also being examined as part of the investigation.

According to Vigilance sources, documents relating to movable and immovable assets, financial transactions, investments, and other records are being verified to ascertain whether the engineer possessed wealth disproportionate to his legitimate income.

The searches were still underway at the time of filing this report, and officials said the exact value of assets detected would be known only after the verification process is completed. The latest operation follows a series of Vigilance crackdowns on public servants in Odisha.

In May this year, raids on an assistant executive engineer in Kalahandi district reportedly led to the detection of four multi-storey buildings, 33 land plots, a farmhouse, and a market complex.

Earlier, Vigilance officials recovered more than Rs 4 crore in cash along with gold ornaments and property documents during searches linked to a senior government official, one of the largest such recoveries made by the agency in recent years. Further details in the Behera case are expected once the searches are completed and the assets are assessed.

–IANS

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