Odisha vigilance seizes Rs 18.80 lakh cash from ‘corrupt’ govt officer

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha vigilance officials seized nearly Rs 18.80 lakh in cash from an officer of Tribal Development Cooperative Corporation (TDCC) Ltd in Sundargarh on Tuesday. The anti-corruption wing said this is the highest ever seizure of unaccounted cash from a government employee in the state.
Jayaprakash Mohanty, the district manager of TDCC was under the vigilance scanner for the past few days for his alleged corrupt activities. “We had kept a close watch on his activities and movement. We had received information that he collected illegal gratification from different sources. Our officers of Rourkela division intercepted his office vehicle near Masunikani toll gate while he was proceeding to Jharsuguda from Sundargarh. During the search, we recovered Rs 18,80,500,” a vigilance officer said.
During inquiry, Mohanty could not give a satisfactory reply about the source of the cash. “We have detained him for interrogation. He will be arrested if we find evidence that he collected the cash through corrupt practices,” the officer said. His government quarter at Sundargarh and residential house at Dhauli in Bhubaneswar are being searched to detect his disproportionate assets, if any.
It must be noted the previous biggest seizure of unaccounted cash by vigilance was Rs 11.73 lakh from the possession of a senior agriculture officer on July 2, 2020. The then deputy director of agriculture (Koraput range), Pradeep Kumar Mohanty, was going from Jeypore to Bhubaneswar to join as a joint director (farm and seeds) of the directorate of agriculture and food production when the vigilance waylaid his vehicle and found him carrying the huge cash. Mohanty was arrested as he had failed to explain about the legitimate source of the money.
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