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₹4 cr cash seized from mines official’s flat in record cash haul: Odisha Vigilance
The officials unearthed over ₹4 crore in cash stuffed inside trolley bags and almirahs at the Bhubaneswar flat of the mining official, arrested earlier the same day for accepting bribe of ₹30,000
A total of ₹4 crore in cash was seized from a flat owned by an official in the Odisha Mines Department in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday night, officials said.
This is the highest-ever cash seizure made by the anti-corruption agency, the officials said,
The officials unearthed over ₹4 crore in cash stuffed inside trolley bags and almirahs at the Bhubaneswar flat of the senior mining official, arrested earlier the same day for accepting a bribe of a mere ₹30,000.
Debabrata Mohanty, Deputy Director of Mines, Cuttack Circle, was caught red-handed while allegedly accepting the bribe from a licensed coal vendor. The bribe, vigilance director general YK Jethwa said, was demanded in exchange for allowing the smooth functioning of the complainant’s coal depot and for granting permission to transport coal.
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Vigilance officials laid a trap and apprehended Mohanty at the time of the transaction. The entire amount of ₹30,000 was recovered from his possession and seized in the presence of witnesses.
“Simultaneous searches launched at his Bhubaneswar flat, parental home in Bhadrak, and office chamber in Cuttack led to the discovery of assets pointing to a significant accumulation of wealth beyond his known sources of income. During the raid at his Bhubaneswar flat, our officials unearthed cash exceeding ₹4 crore. The money was found concealed inside trolley bags and almirahs. The seized amount is currently being counted to determine the exact figure,” said Jethwa.
Besides the record cash find, investigators recovered ₹1.20 lakh from his office drawer, approximately 130 grams of gold, and identified a palatial double-storeyed building in Pahala, Bhubaneswar.
In July 2025, vigilance officials had seized ₹1.44 crore from Ramchandra Nepak, a deputy ranger of forest department in Jeypore town of backward Koraput district. In March 2022, vigilance officials had seized ₹1.39 crore from the house of Ashis Kumar Dash, superintendent engineer of rural works in Malkangiri district apart from 1.2 kilograms of gold ornaments, including gold biscuits and coins.
