Former Addl Sub-Collector Prashant Rout sent to jail after remand ends

Former Additional sub-collector and tainted OAS officer, Prashant Rout was sent to Sundargarh jail after completion of his five-day remand with the Odisha Vigilance on Monday.

As per reports, the Vigilance team has unearthed more assets disproportionate to Rout’s known sources of income. The Vigilance has reportedly found six benami bank accounts, deposits of Rs 1.2 crore, and two benami plots in Bhadrak and Bhubaneswar.

It is alleged that Rout, who was posted as the additional sub-collector of Nabarangpur, had shown undue sympathy to local contractors in awarding them jobs under the Bharatmala project and Amrit Sarovar project in the district.

Allegations are also being made that Rout had furnished fake documents and never held 'gram sabhas' nor took permission from the Pollution Board to help contractors loot stone mines under the Amrit Sarovar project at Shitaladangari, Kopena, and Kesaribeda villages in Burja Panchayat.

Rout landed in Vigilance net for amassing disproportionate assets after the sleuths of the anti-corruption agency raided the official, residential, and other premises of the official.

Assets worth Rs 5.21 crore including cash worth over Rs 3.02 crore stashed in six cartons was seized from the rooftop of Prasanta Rout's neighbour during a raid at Kanan Vihar in Bhubaneswar.

In 2018, Rout was arrested by the Vigilance officials for demanding bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a panchayat executive officer while he was a BDO in Sundargarh district.