Bhubaneswar: The Vigilance department conducted simultaneous raids at 12 properties belonging to Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Abhaya Kant Pathak in Odisha and Maharashtra in connection with an on-going Disproportionate Assets (DA) case investigation, on Wednesday.
Sources said that Vigillance sleuths raided as many as five places in Bhubaneswar belonging to Pathak, who is posted as the Additional PCCF (Plan, Programme and Afforestation),Odisha in the early hours on Wednesday.
The anti-corruption agency sleuths also conducted searches at seven more properties in Mumbai and Pune belonging to the IFS officer who is facing charges of acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Meanwhile, the vigilance department is also carrying out searches at the Adarshapada residence of Junior Engineer (JE) Girish Kumar Patra, who is presently attached to the Deogaon Block in Bolangir district.
Sources said simultaneous raids are also being carried out by the sleuths at the block office and three other places in Sambalpur, Bolangir and Sonepur districts connected to Patra, who is accused of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The anti-graft officials have reportedly seized several lakhs of rupees (cash), important documents and bank accounts of the Junior Engineer during the raid.
In a similar case on November 23, Vigilance officials had conducted a raid at the Khandagiri residence of Dr. Prasanna Kumar Mishra, an Assistant Professor with an engineering college in the state capital.
Apart from Bhubaneswar, the Vigilance department had also conducted separate searches in Malkangiri and Bargarh districts earlier this month.
In Bargarh, the sleuths from the anti-corruption agency had raided the residence of Kambhupani Mishra, a junior accountant at the civil supplies department. Simultaneous raids were also being carried out at three places connected to Mishra.
Similarly in Malkangiri, the sleuths of the anti-corruption agency had arrested a doctor, identified as Panu Charan Mandal, posted at the Padia Community Health Centre on the charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 for clearing a vehicle bill on November 20. The concerned doctor had allegedly accepted the bribe from the block programme manager Srimanta Atibudhi.
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