Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance on Sunday arrested Santosh Kumar Panda, a former Senior Assistant at the Sub-Treasury Office, Chandbali in Bhadrak district, along with five others, in connection with an alleged Rs 8-crore financial fraud involving manipulation of pension-related transactions in the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).
Panda is alleged to be the mastermind behind the misappropriation of government funds amounting to Rs 8,04,76,146 between July 25, 2018, and May 4, 2023. The Vigilance Department has registered a case (Vigilance Cell PS Case No. 03/2026) against him and his associates—Siba Shankar Samal, Deb Shankar Samal, Prafulla Kumar Rout, Sandip Kumar Mitra, and Abhay Kumar Panda—under Sections 13(2) read with 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, and Sections 406, 409, 467, 468, 471, 477, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code. All accused have been arrested and produced before the Court of the Special Judge, Vigilance, Balasore.
According to an official press release by Odisha Vigilance, Panda exploited the digital pension processing system by manipulating previously processed Pension Payment Orders (PPOs). While genuine pension, gratuity, and Commuted Value of Pension (CVP) bills were initially cleared and credited to beneficiaries, the accused allegedly re-entered the system months later using his official login credentials to generate fraudulent transactions.
Investigators said Panda accessed the “Gratuity Payment” menu on the IFMS portal and reused valid PPO details to create “Third-Party Government Pension Order (GPO) IDs,” thereby diverting funds to multiple bank accounts controlled by his associates. The Sub-Treasury Officer, acting as the approving authority, allegedly cleared the fraudulent bills using separate login credentials without verifying duplication or beneficiary details.
The scam is believed to have involved 102 fraudulent transactions, with the diverted funds routed into 44 bank accounts belonging to 37 persons linked to the accused network.
Further investigation is underway to identify other beneficiaries and officials who may have facilitated the alleged embezzlement.
