Bhubaneswar, Apr 9 (PTI) Gold, silver and Rs 1.14 crore cash were recovered from a slum in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, following the arrest of a government engineer in a corruption case, officials said.
Assistant engineer Kartikeswar Roul, posted at the Water Resources Department in Bhanjanagar in Ganjam district, was arrested on Friday by anti-corruption sleuths, they said.
A shanty in Salia Sahi slum was raided and Rs 1.41 crore in cash, gold weighing 354 gram and 1kg silver were recovered, they said.
Roul’s sister-in-law lived in the shanty where he hid the ill-gotten money, they added.
Following the recovery, Roul’s wife Kalpana Pradhan was also arrested for actively aiding him in the corruption, officials said.
So far, Rs 3.41 crore in cash was found in the possession of Roul, which is the highest-ever cash recovery in a corruption case in Odisha, Vigilance SP Anupama James said.
Note counting machines had to be hired to count the cash recovered in the case, she said.
Earlier, over Rs 2 crore in cash and 20 gold biscuits weighing around 580 gm among other valuables were found in Roul’s house, officials said.
Total Rs 7.47 crore of assets, disproportionate to his known sources of income, have been detected, they said.
In a statement, Vigilance director YK Jethwa said, “We have enhanced the use of domain experts in search teams. We are deploying Financial Experts to minutely scrutinise financial data.” Focus on benami assets and deposits have also been enhanced, he added. PTI AAM SOM SOM
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