Keonjhar Assistant Engineer Under Vigilance Scanner Over DA Charges

Vigilance sleuths conducted simultaneous raids at eight places including the house of Umesh Sasini, assistant engineer of Keonjhar Baitarini Canal Division, on charges of amassing properties disproportionate to his known source of income, on Tuesday.

According to sources, several teams of the anti-corruption wing are carrying out searches of Sasini's assets at Bhadrak, Baripada, Bhubaneswar, Balasore and Keonjhar.

The raids are being carried out at Sasini’s houses at Apartibandha in Bhadrak, a flat at Chandrasekharpur in Bhubaneswar, parental house and plots at Keonjhar, another plot in Bhubaneswar, in-law’s house at Jajpur Matha Sahi and his official quarters in Keonjhar, sources in Vigilance informed.

While exact details on the total value of assets uncovered during the searches is still to be ascertained, the probing teams are said to have already laid their hands on many crucial documents related to the property of Sasini.

Notably, the Odisha government had handed down compulsory retirement to six more officials accused of corruption and inefficiency on March 16. Those include three Executive Engineers Saroj Kumar Das, Dayanidhi Samal and Karunakar Ghadei, Rantakar Mallick (IIC, Angul), Ratnakar Sethy (Additional Supply Inspector, Nuapada), Charulata Mallick (Former Development Authority, Angul).

The State government has so far given compulsory retirement to as many as 158 officials on charges of corruption and inefficiency in the last one and half year