Disproportionate assets case: Athgarh DFO arrested

Bhubaneswar: Vigilance sleuths on Thursday arrested Athgarh divisional forest officer (DFO) Sudhansu Mishra from whom properties worth Rs six crore, disproportionate to his known source of income was seized yesterday.

Vigilance officials said Mishra has been remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.

"Since it is a clear matter of disproportionate of assets, a case has been registered against him under Section 13 (1) (e) of Prevention of Corruption Act. Further investigation in the case is on," DGP, vigilance, RP Sharma said.

The properties of Mishra were detected during simultaneous raids which were conducted in 10 places in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Bhawanipatna, Koraput, Sonepur and Puri, they added.

Mishra’s office at Athgarh was also searched.

“After secret verification of Mishra’s documents, we have conducted simultaneous raids at 10 places. We have seized Rs 94 lakh cash and gold ornaments weighing around 500 gram from his residence in Cuttack,” Director, Vigilance, R P Sharma had told reporters.

While cash worth Rs 93.61 lakh was recovered from the residential house in Cuttack, fixed deposits in banks and post offices worth Rs 2.62 crore was detected. Besides, gold ornaments and gold coins weighing 551.39 gms worth Rs 8.26 lakh was also recovered from Mishra’s residence.

Vigilance officials said value of movable assets of Mishra has been estimated at Rs 1.12 crore. This involves residential plots at Gopalpur (Ganjam), Bolangir, Sambalpur, Bhawanipatna and Bhubaneswar besides flats at Bhubaneswar, Puri and Bhawanipatna.