The Vigilance police on Wednesday arrested Pratap Samal, Deputy Manager of the Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OPHWC), on the charge of amassing disproportionate assets totalling Rs 14.87 crore.
The seized properties, which are said to be the biggest ever catch by the anti-graft agency, is over 1,021% of Samal’s known sources of income. A case has been registered against Samal and his wife Sasmita in connection with the DA case. Samal, who was arrested on Wednesday, was later forwarded to the Special Vigilance court in Bhubaneswar. During raids at multiple locations belonging to Samal, the agency found documents of 25 plots owned by him and his family members, including those in wife Sasmita’s name. The officials also unearthed deposits of Rs 1, 62 crore in the bank accounts of Samal and his family members, insurance premium of Rs 57,72,150 has been paid by them. Cash of Rs 38 lakh was also seized from the OPHWC officials house. The bank accounts have been freezed while further investigation was underway. The relative standard deviation (RSD) value of 25 plots, including registration and stamp duty, has reportedly been estimated at around Rs 3, 42 crore .The actual price of the plots is said to be much higher. On Tuesday, raids were carried out at multiple locations of the accused in Bhubaneswar, Bhadrak and Baleswar. The raids were conducted at Samal's Bhubaneswar office, ancestral house at Haripur in Baleswar distrcit, three-storied building at IRC Village, a six-storied building located opposite the Maa Bhagabati temple near Biju Patnaik College Chowk, a single-storied building at Sarakantra in Khandagiri, a flat on the second floor of Narendra Villa in Jayadev Vihar and a three storied apartment, Ananya Towers at Balisahi under Basudevpur block in Bhadrak district.