Bhubaneswar, June 23 (IANS) The Odisha Vigilance continues its crackdown on corrupt government officials in the state as the agency on Tuesday carried out simultaneous house searches at multiple locations linked to the Executive Engineer of CADA (Command Area Development Authority), Sambalpur Division, on charges of possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

“On the allegation of possession of assets disproportionate to the known sources of income, simultaneous house searches were conducted on the properties of Padmalochan Nayak, Executive Engineer, CADA, Sambalpur Division, Sambalpur on June 23 at seven places in Sambalpur, Kataka, Baleshwar, and Malkangiri districts,” said a senior official.

The places where the searches were carried out include Nayak’s rented residential house at Dhanupali in Sambalpur district, residential triple-storeyed buildings at Bidyadharpur in Kataka district and at Mukhalis under Basta Police Station area in Baleshwar District, etc.

The official further stated that seven teams of Odisha Vigilance, led by four Deputy Superintendents of Police, 13 Inspectors, seven Assistant Sub Inspectors, and other supporting staff, conducted the search on the strength of Search Warrants issued by the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Sambalpur.

During the house searches, the anti-corruption sleuths found Nayak and his family members in possession of assets worth crores including three buildings including a multi storeyed building in Kataka, 18 valuable plots including five in Bhubaneswar, three in Kataka, six in Korei area of Jajpur district, three in Basta of Baleshwar district and one in Delanga of Puri district, gold ornaments and house hold articles worth around Rs 20 lakh, cash Rs 3.45 lakh along with some foreign currency notes of Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bahrain and USA, three four wheelers, two JCBs, one tractor, one trailer, etc.

“Nayak is suspected to have made visits to Sri Lanka multiple times and engaged in gambling activities, which is being verified,” the official added.

The vigilance sources also revealed that the accused Executive Engineer is being examined to ascertain the source of the assets unearthed during the searches. The police suspect that more assets are likely to be unearthed as the searches are still on.

–IANS

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