The Odisha Vigilance on Sunday arrested Jaleswar Block Development Officer (BDO) Ashwini Kumar Das after he couldn’t account for satisfactorily about the alleged possession of assets worth around Rs 5 crore detected during raids yesterday.
Subsequent to his arrest, Das was forwarded to the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Cuttack.
According to a release by the Vigilance Directorate, a was registered against Das and his spouse under Section 13 (2) r/w 13 (1) b of PC Act, 1988 as amended by PC (Amended)Act, 2018/34 IPC.
On the allegation of Das having possessed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, simultaneous raids were conducted on Saturday at six places in Cuttack, Balasore and Kendrapara by as many teams led by 5 DSsP, nine inspectors and other staff.
The raids were carried out on the strength of search warrants issued by the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Cuttack.
After a thorough search and further inquiry, the income, expenditure and assets of Das were calculated and it was found that he had possessed disproportionate assets to the tune of approx Rs 5 crore, which is 450 percent higher than his known sources of income.
The Vigilance sleuths had unearthed 24 Plots in the prime areas of Cuttack and Kendrapara districts, a triple-storeyed building at Kalapada, 42 Mouza, Cuttack worth approx Rs.1.22 crore, a double-storeyed building at Jhinkiria, Sri Krishna Vihar, 42 Mouja, Cuttack worth Rs.1.10 Crore (approx), one brick factory at Kalapada, Cuttack, Rs 1.7 lakh in cash, gold jewellery weighing approx 330 gms and silver jewellery weighing over 1.1 Kg during the raid.