Bhubaneswar, Feb 25 The Vigilance sleuths on Wednesday arrested a crorepati mines officer after recovering a record cash haul worth over Rs 4.27 crore from his rented accommodation during simultaneous house searches at multiple locations linked to the accused official.
The accused officer, Debabrata Mohanty, Deputy Director of Mines, Cuttack Circle, was arrested by Odisha Vigilance and forwarded to the Court of the Special Judge, Vigilance, in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.
The accused, Mohanty, was apprehended on Tuesday night for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 30,000 from a licensed coal vendor for allowing the smooth running of his coal depot and granting permission to transport coal.
In this connection, a case (1/26) has been registered against Mohanty at the Bhubaneswar Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
As per reports, acting on the complaint of the businessman, vigilance sleuths laid a trap and caught Mohanty red-handed while taking a bribe from the complainant on Tuesday evening.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches were conducted on the rented residential flat of Mohanty at Shree Vihar, Patia, Bhubaneswar, the parental house at Mathasahi, Bhadrak and his office chamber at Cuttack.
During searches, cash Rs 4,27,13,600 concealed in trolley bags and in almirahs was unearthed from his rented residential flat at Bhubaneswar and seized. In addition, cash Rs 1.20 lakh was also recovered from his office table drawer and his possession and seized. The police also recovered gold jewellery weighing 305.40 grams and silver ornaments weighing 600 grams during the search.
A senior vigilance official on Wednesday revealed that a vigilance case registered against the accused, Debabrata Mohanty, in 2009 is still pending trial at the Vigilance Court in Baripada.
Notably, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, on Monday, told the State Assembly that the Vigilance Department has registered a total of 416 cases against government officers and employees in the state for taking bribes, committing financial irregularities in government fund and possession of disproportionate assets between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2025.
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