Bhubaneswar, Sep 3 (IANS): The Odisha Vigilance has arrested the deputy director of Mines, Talcher in Angul district on the charges of possessing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 5 crore which exceeds his legal sources of income by over 500 per cent, said a senior vigilance official on Tuesday.
The accused officer, identified as Dharanidhar Nayak, joined the government service on February 12, 2014, and was posted as a mining officer at Koraput. After about seven years, he was transferred from Koraput and posted at Talcher as a mining officer on January 20, 2021. He was promoted to the rank of Deputy Director of mining on April 18, 2022.
On Monday, eight teams of the vigilance department comprising 10 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 16 Inspectors, seven Sub-Inspectors/Assistant Sub-Inspectors along with other officials conducted searches at eight locations related to Nayak in Bhubaneswar, and Keonjhar and Angul districts.
The searches were carried out on the basis of warrants issued by the special vigilance court, Angul.
The places where raids were conducted include his temporary residence and office room at Talcher in Angul district, the paternal house of Nayak and a relative’s house in Keonjhar district.
During the search, the vigilance officials found Nayak and his family members in possession of assets worth crores of rupees which include two multi-storeyed buildings, one 3-BHK flat worth around Rs 1.30 crore and a duplex with 1800 sqft in Bhubaneswar, two market complexes with 19 shops, 11 plots, deposits worth Rs 53.53 lakh, cash over Rs 9.85 lakh and household articles Rs 54.70 lakh.
The sleuths also found Nayak in possession of one four-wheeler and two 2-wheelers.
As Nayak failed to explain satisfactorily the possession of disproportionate assets worth about Rs 5 crore, the vigilance department arrested him after registering a case (25/2024) against him and his spouse under sections 13(2) (1)(b) and 12 PC (Amendment) Act, 2018.
Notably, as many as 60 cases, including 30 trap and 16 DA cases have been registered against various corrupt government officials by the state vigilance department during the last three months.