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The Odisha Vigilance on Wednesday detained the deputy manager of the Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OPHWC), Pratap Samal for quizzing him in connection with the sources of the disproportionate assets, worth several crores of rupees, unearthed from his possession during searches on Tuesday.
The anti-corruption agency is likely to arrest Samal in the Disproportionate Assets (DA) case and forward him to a court today for remand.
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Vigilance sleuths conducted simultaneous raids at several locations linked to Samal on Tuesday and found documents related to 25 plots belonging to him and his family members, including those in wife Sasmita’s name. The sleuths also unearthed deposits worth crores of rupees in several banks and Rs 38 lakh cash from Samal’s possession.
As per reports, the relative standard deviation (RSD) value of 25 plots, including registration and stamp duty, has been estimated at around Rs.3,41,58,412. The actual price of the plots is said to be much higher.
His five-storey mansion at Gothapatna has been valued at Rs.3,89,60,000, as per the declaration of Samal and his wife. The technical valuation of other buildings is underway by the Technical Wing of the Odisha Vigilance.
The deposits in several bank accounts of Samal and his family members have been calculated at Rs 1,61,35,812.50 while Rs 57, 72,150 have been paid as insurance premiums. The bank accounts have been frozen by the Vigilance department.
The Vigilance officials had conducted raids at multiple locations linked to the OPHWC assistant engineer in Bhubaneswar, Bhadrak and Balasore after obtaining a warrant from the Special Vigilance Court yesterday.
The raids were conducted at Samal's Bhubaneswar office, an ancestral house at Haripur in Simulia block of Balasore, a three-storey building at IRC Village, a six-storey building located opposite of Maa Bhagabati temple near Biju Patnaik College Chowk at Jayadev Vihar, a single-storey building at Sarakantra in Khandagiri, a flat on the second floor of Narendra Villa in Jayadev Vihar and a three-storey apartment- Ananya Towers at Balisahi under Basudevpur block in Bhadrak.
A temporary residence of Samal's associate at Ananya Towers and a house of Samal's relative at Haripur under Simulia block of Balasore district were also scanned by the probe agency.
It is worth mentioning that Samal had thrown away Rs 20 lakh in cash stashed in a bag to his neighbour’s terrace yesterday when the Vigilance officials were waiting at his doorstep to carry out searches at his triple-storey house in IRC village. However, Vigilance recovered the bag and found an additional Rs 18 lakh cash from his house during the searches.
Samal has been posted as an assistant engineer in OPHWC and draws a salary of around Rs 80,000 per month. After completing Diploma in Civil Engineering from Baripada School of Engineering in 1987, Samal joined OPHWC in 1988 where he continued to work as an estimator till 1995.
Later, he was promoted to the rank of Deputy Manager in 2013 and worked at several places including Rourkela, Cuttack, Bolangir and Keonjhar. The officer was subsequently posed in Bhubaneswar in 2019.
