Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance detected and registered the highest number of Disproportionate Assets (DA) cases in the country in 2022. It has been able to unearth disproportionate assets worth Rs 174.83 crores.
In the year 2022, Odisha Vigilance registered 285 cases against 544 persons including 60 Class-I officers, 53 Class-II officers, 227 Class-III employees, 7 Class-IV employees, 38 other public servants, and 159 private persons. The 285 cases included 84 Disproportionate Assets (DA) cases, 118 Trap cases, and rest other Corruption cases.
The number of cases registered against Class-I officers is the highest in the last 5 years.
Out of 285 cases registered in 2022, 84 cases were instituted for the acquisition of disproportionate assets against 91 public servants and 56 private persons. The total disproportionate assets in all 84 cases stood at Rs 174.83 Crores. 32 DA cases were registered against Class-I officers and 27 DA cases were registered against Class-II officers.
The top 4 cash seizures in DA searches in the history of Odisha Vigilance happened in 2022 with Rs 7.01 Crores seized. The details of top 5 cash seizures in the history of Odisha Vigilance are as under;
1) Cash seizure of Rs 3,41,66,280/- during house searches against Kartikeswar Raul, AE, MI, Bhanjanagar, Ganjam on 07.04.2022.
2) Cash seizure of Rs 1,40,18,070 during house searches against Ashish Kumar Das, SE, RW Division, Malkangiri on 25.03.2022.
3) Cash seizure of Rs 1,13,16,720/- during house searches against Dr. Sukant Jena, Gynaecologist, Charichhaka CHC following trap on 16.02.2022.
4) Cash seizure of Rs 1,06,44,500/- during house searches against Gaya Santara, Joint Manager, IDCOL on 20/21.12.2022.
5) Cash seizure of Rs 1,01,70,000/- during house searches against Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, Ex-DFO, Athagarh, Cuttack on 24.02.2016.
Major DA cases based on DA amount:
1) Gaya Santara, Joint Manager, IDCOL – Rs.10,18,68,732/-.
2) Trinath Mishra, Additional Superintendent of Police, Communication, Tulasipur, Cuttack – Rs.9,05,29,073/-.
3) Kartikeswar Raul, Assistant Engineer, Minor Irrigation, Bhanjanagar, DistGanjam – Rs.7,47,62,194/-
4 Jagannath Rout, Live Stock Inspector, Kalarahanga, Raghunathpur, Bhubaneswar – Rs.6,96,29,769/-
5) Jagannath Sethy, Executive Engineer, Rural Works (Electrical) Division, Berhampur, Dist-Ganjam – Rs.6,79,62,748/-
6) Ratnakar Sethy, Additional Civil Supplies Officer (ACSO), Nuapada, DistNuapada – Rs.6,43,84,862/-
62 Spouses were also brought in the ambit of investigations as co-accused in DA cases.
Interception cases:
This year, 7 Government officers (3 Class-I, 2 Class-II officers & 2 Class-III employees) were intercepted while carrying unaccounted cash of Rs 27,21,770/- (Rupees Twenty-seven Lakhs Twenty-one Thousand Seven Hundred Seventy). The major interception cases were;
1. Ashish Kumar Dash, Superintending Engineer, RW Division, Malkangiri – Rs.10,23,970/-.
2. Neena Beura, Dy. Superintendent of Excise, Rayagada – Rs.6,29,000/-.
3. Srimant Kumar Sethi, Superintending Engineer (SE), Salandi Canal Division, Bhadrak – Rs.5,00,000/-.
Trap Cases:
118 trap cases were instituted during the year against 126 public servants and 3 private persons including 12 Class-I officers, 20 Class-II officers, 86 Class-III employees, 2 Class-IV employees, 6 other public servants and 3 private persons for demand and acceptance of bribe amounting to Rs.36.94 Lakhs. The highest cash seizure in a trap case in the history of Odisha Vigilance happened in 2022.
Some of the major Trap cases are as follows;
1. On 13.05.2022, Manasi Jena, Inspector of Police, Vigilance, Sambalpur Division was trapped by Internal Vigilance Unit of Odisha Vigilance while taking bribe of Rs 10,00,000/- through her associate from a Government official for closing a petition against him.
2. On 29.06.2022, Prakash Chandra Sahoo, Addl. Commercial Tax Officer, CT & GST, Enforcement Unit, Paradeep Jagatsinghpur was nabbed by Odisha Vigilance while taking bribe of Rs 2,00,000/-from a businessman for inspection of his business site and verification of records carried out in May 2022.
3. On 07.05.2022, Sarada Maharana, ORS, Additional Tahasildar, Kuchinda Tahasil Office, Sambalpur was trapped by Odisha Vigilance while taking bribe of Rs 1,20,000/- to reduce the penalty towards the release of a seized vehicle.
4. On 10.05.2022, Harihar Swain, Forester, Sindhekela Beat under Bangomunda Forest Range, Dist-Bolangir was nabbed by Odisha Vigilance while taking bribe Rs.1,00,300/- from laborers working under different projects of Forest Department.
Misappropriation cases:
During the year, 83 misappropriation cases relating to the misappropriation of public money were registered against 270 persons, including 170 public servants and 100 private persons, involving misappropriation of public funds amounting to about Rs.19.50 crores. Misappropriation cases were registered against 16 Class-I officers, 6 Class-II officers, 114 Class-III employees, 4 Class-IV employees, 30 other public servants, and 100 private persons.
Arrest:
During this period, 200 persons were arrested, which included 37 Class-I officers, 39 Class-II officers, 105 Class-III employees, 4 Class-IV employees, 5 other public servants, and 10 private persons. Among those arrested, include 47 Engineers of different departments, 31 Revenue Officers/officials, 20 Police Officers, 13 Forest Officers/officials, 12 Doctors, and 7 ICDS functionaries.
Investigation:
During the investigation, searches at over 600 locations were carried out by Odisha Vigilance against 200 corrupt public servants involved in Trap/DA cases. Also, 898 Bank accounts of corrupt public servants were frozen by Odisha Vigilance. Further, 111 buildings in 62 valuation cases worth approx Rs.24 Crores were evaluated by the Technical Wing of Odisha Vigilance.
Disposal:
This year, high priority was placed on disposal along with detection. Investigations in all trap cases of 2021 and earlier were completed. Also, investigation in about 60% trap cases of 2022 were completed. During the year, 347 cases were disposed off after investigation as against registration of 285 cases, taking the disposal rate to 122% of registration. This disposal rate was the highest in a decade.
Prosecution:
As far as prosecution is concerned, Odisha Vigilance had 91 convictions in 2022 at about 50% conviction rate. Of the 91 convictions, 23 were against Class-I officers, 7 Class-II officers, 65 Class-III employees, 13 other public servants, and 16 private persons. Some of the major Convictions are as follows;
1. Vinod Kumar, IAS, Ex-M.D, ORHDC & Md. Moquim, M.D Metro Builders along with others were convicted in a Vigilance case on 29.09.2022. Vinod Kumar, IAS was convicted in total 6 corruption cases investigated by Odisha Vigilance, of which 4 convictions were in 2022.
2. Ambika Prasad Tripathy, Ex-Chief Engineer (Retired), Upper Indravati Project, Khatiguda, Nabarangpur, Prasanta Kumar Ghosla, Ex-Chief Engineer (Retired), Upper Indravati Project, Khatiguda, Nabarangpur and Sadananda Mishra, Ex-Executive Engineer (Retired), Upper Indravati Right Canal, Division-II, Junagarh, Kalahandi were convicted in a corruption case on 21.12.2022.
3. Kedarnath Bhoi, Ex-BDO (retired), Gudvela Block, Bolangir was convicted in a Trap case on 24.02.2022.
4. Sabita Sahu, Ex-Tahasildar, Shamakhunta, Mayurbhanj, A/p Deputy Collector, Collectorate, Balasore was convicted in a Trap case on 25.03.2022.
5. Gangadhar Sahoo, Ex-Executive Engineer, CADA-I, Bhubaneswar was convicted in a DA case on 27.04.2022.
6. Damodar Das, Ex-Deputy General Manager, Electrical, CESU Head Office, IDCO Tower, Bhubaneswar was convicted in a DA case on 25.08.2022.
Dismissal from service:
During this period, 30 public servants i.e. 2 Class-I Officers, 8 Class-II Officers, and 20 Class-III employees were dismissed from Government service following their conviction in Vigilance cases.
Compulsory Retirement:
During the year, a significant number of officers with corruption charges were given compulsory retirement by the Government in pursuance of the policy of zero tolerance to corruption. Some of the notable names include;
1) Sunil Kumar Panda, Chief Engineer-cum-Chief Electrical Inspector, Sambalpur.
2) Sushil Kumar Kujur, OAS (I), Ex-BDO, Sadar Block, Dhenkanal.
3) Trinath Mishra, Ex-Additional Superintendent of Police (Addl. S.P), Communication, Tulasipur, Cuttack.
4) Jagannath Sethy, Ex-Executive Engineer, Rural Works (Electrical) Division, Berhampur.
5) Santosh Kumar Das, Assistant Engineer, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Baripada, Mayurbhanj.
6) Braja Kumar Nayak, Block Education Officer (BEO), Nuagada Block, Gajapati.
7) Antaryami Behera, Block Education Officer (BEO), Gunupur, Rayagada.
8) Ratnakar Sethy, Ex-Additional Civil Supplies Officer (ACSO), Nuapada.
9) Rabindra Kumar Sethy, Ex-D.S.P. Nuapada.
10) Binod Bihari Nayak, Inspector-in-charge, Bangomunda Police Station, Bolangir.
11) Sarala Dei, CDPO, Balikuda, Dist-Jagatsinghpur.
Lokayukta Matters:
During the year, State Vigilance received 16 cases from the Lokayukta for enquiry and submitted 23 enquiry reports after thorough enquiries. As per the direction of Lokayukta, Odisha Vigilance also registered 10 criminal cases and submitted 10 number of investigation reports after painstaking investigations. The quality of enquiries and investigations by Odisha Vigilance was appreciated by the Lokayukta.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
Vigilance Clearance: During this period, Vigilance clearance in respect of 40786 public servants were issued in response to 4394 letters received from Govt./Heads of the Departments/District Offices/Public Sector Undertakings of Odisha for the purpose of Promotion/VRS/Pension/RACP/MACP/Passport etc.
State Vigilance Academy (SVA): In the year 2022, 388 Officers from various cadres of both Central and State Government i.e. IAS, IFoS, OAS, OPS, OFS, OT & AS, OFoS, ORS, Odisha State Prosecution Service as well as officers of Vigilance were trained on Anti-Corruption Laws, Preventive Vigilance and good governance as a repository of knowledge in the field of anti-corruption, transparency and good governance.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Going forward, Odisha Vigilance is committed to take strong actions against corrupt practices with focus on higher ranks through enhanced application of technology in detection and investigation, more effective tracking of databases related to accumulation of assets, both physical and digital, be it land, buildings, currency, deposits or even crypto assets, to identify Disproportionate Assets and take action as per law under the PC Act.
