BHUBANESWAR: The engineer of Odisha’s rural development department, who was arrested last week on charges of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, used to deposit cash in the bank accounts of his late mother-in-law, officials said.
Odisha vigilance officials, who arrested Ashish Kumar Dash, superintending engineer of Rural Works division of Malkangiri district last week, said Dash deposited around ₹64 lakh on 16 occasions in an account in the name of his deceased mother-in-law between July 11, 2020 and March 25, 2022 in Axis Bank, Malkangiri branch.
He was also allegedly operating one more account in State Bank of India (SBI), Keonjhar, in name of his deceased mother-in-law, who died in October 2010.
To avoid scrutiny, he allegedly limited the cash deposits to ₹1.98 lakh (below 2 Lakhs) on most occasions.
Dash has allegedly confessed to having opened benami accounts in the name of his relatives, servants, caretakers of his farmland and others and deposited a large amount of ill-gotten bribe money as cash deposits. To be sure, only a confession before a judge is admissible as evidence against an accused.
During searches conducted for five days by vigilance officials following Dash’s interception on March 25, the anti-graft agency was able to unearth assets worth about ₹9 crore in his name and in the name of his family members.
{{/usCountry}}During searches conducted for five days by vigilance officials following Dash’s interception on March 25, the anti-graft agency was able to unearth assets worth about ₹9 crore in his name and in the name of his family members.
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