Odisha Vigilance arrests senior govt official over DA charges

Bhubaneswar, July 1 (IANS) The Odisha Vigilance on Tuesday arrested a senior official of the state government on the charges of amassing Disproportionate Assets (DA) to the tune of over 200 per cent of his known sources of income.

The accused Dayanidhi Bag is currently working as the Joint Director at the office of the Director of Soil Conservation and Watershed Development, Bhubaneswar.

Bag, who was earlier posted as Project Director, Watershed, Rayagada district, has been under vigilance scanner after the arrest of four other staff working at the same office on May 22 for misappropriating government funds amounting over Rs 20 Lakhs without excavation of 23 number of farm ponds in different villages of Kashipur Block of the district under NREGS.

On Monday, the vigilance sleuths conducted simultaneous searches at various properties linked to Bag on the strength of search warrants issued by Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhawanipatna, on the charges of possessing disproportionate assets.

During the house search, the vigilance officials found Bag in possession of two buildings, one each in Bhubaneswar and Nabarangpur, a 3-bhk flat in Bhubaneswar, a shopping complex near Nabarangpur town, landed plots measuring 84 acres including two farm houses with investments worth over Rs 1.5 crore, further 41 acres of benami landed plots located at different places of Nabarangpur, Koraput and Kalahandi districts, gold ornaments weighing 312 gms, deposits over Rs 58 lakhs and one benami car.

“After a thorough search, inventory and further enquiry, the income, expenditure and assets of Bag were calculated and he was found in possession of disproportionate assets which were 212 per cent in excess of his known sources of income,” said a senior vigilance official on Tuesday.

The Odisha Vigilance has registered 211 criminal cases and arrested 179 government officers over charges of financial irregularities and corruption during 2024.

The Vigilance Department also carried out searches at over 483 locations in connection with cases related to graft and DA charges.

--IANS

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