Odisha clerk draws higher salary than IAS officers! Lands in Vigilance net

In two separate anti-corruption actions, Odisha Vigilance officials have arrested a hospital clerk in Angul district and detained an Additional Tehsildar in Bhanjanagar of Ganjam over alleged financial irregularities on Thursday.

Also Read: Rs 2.5 crore corruption: After months on the run, Odisha govt clerk nabbed by Vigilance

In Angul, Subrat Kumar Behera, a clerk at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH), was arrested in the afternoon on charges of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Vigilance officials alleged that he had accumulated properties worth nearly Rs 1.5 crore beyond his legitimate earnings, with assets reportedly 205 per cent higher than his declared income.

Investigations further revealed that he was allegedly drawing a basic salary of Rs 7.36 lakh along with dearness allowance amounting to over Rs 14.06 lakh, which is higher than the salary of IAS officers in Odisha.

In this connection, Cuttack Vigilance PS Case No.-7, dated 12.02.2026, was registered against Subrat Behera, the Junior Assistant in O/o CDMO, Angul, U/s 13(2) r/w 13(1)(b) of the PC (Amendment) Act, 2018.

Following the alleged misappropriation of government money to the tune of Rs 2.38 crore by Behera, house searches were conducted by the Vigilance sleuths at five different locations linked to the clerk. During searches, several movable and immovable assets worth crores were unearthed in the name of Subrat Behera and his family members.

“Investigation revealed that clerk Subrat Behera fraudulently drew a Basic Pay in the range between Rs 3,36,100 to Rs 7,36,100 during the year 2022 to 2025 and dearness allowance at the rate of Rs 9,05,827 to Rs 14,06,300 from March 2021 to June 2021,” an Odisha Vigilance press release mentioned.

In the second case, Belguntha Additional Tehsildar Kabiraj Sethi was caught by Vigilance officials over alleged irregularities in the collection of fines. He had reportedly imposed a Rs 40,000 penalty after seizing a sand-laden tractor, but issued a receipt for only Rs 30,000. The discrepancy led to his detention.

In connection with this case, three Revenue Inspectors (RIs) from Gobara, Pailipada and Belguntha were also taken in for questioning by the Berhampur Vigilance team.

Further investigations in both cases are underway.