E-Paper
Odisha anti-corruption sleuths trace assets worth ₹3.79 cr from Class 3 employee
Biranchi Narayan Sahoo, 58, worked as private secretary to member of Odisha Staff Selection Commission.
The anti-corruption sleuths of Odisha on Friday found assets worth over ₹3.79 crore, including 1.5 kg gold, from the house of a private secretary of a member of Odisha Staff Selection Commission that conducts recruitment to Group C posts in state government, officials said.
Vigilance officials said Biranchi Narayan Sahoo, 58, private secretary to member of Odisha Staff Selection Commission Jagannath Lenka, was found to be in possession of assets worth ₹3.79 crore including a double-storeyed building worth ₹1.42 crore in Bhubaneswar.
Bhubaneswar vigilance SP Prakash R said two single-storeyed buildings in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, 14 plots in Bhubaneswar, Khurda and Puri, a four-wheeler, insurance premia worth over ₹56 lakh and ₹25 lakh in cash from his and his relative’s house were seized during the raid. Besides, gold ornaments weighing around 1.5 kg worth over ₹60 lakh were also found in his house.
“We are yet to calculate how much of it was disproportionate to his known sources of income,” said the vigilance SP.
Sahoo joined government service as a lowly junior stenographer in the forest department in 1981. He was transferred to Odisha Staff Selection Commission in 1994 as a senior stenographer. The Odisha Staff Selection Commission was established in 1993 to select candidates for Group-C posts such as field assistants, inspectors of supplies, assistant training officers, laboratory assistants, junior librarians, excise sub-inspectors, district culture officers, industries promotion officers, junior typists, traffic sub-inspectors, junior stenographers, welfare extension officers, marketing intelligence officers, amins, junior MVIs and junior engineers.
In 2006, he became private secretary to the member of the Staff Selection Commission. Member Jagannath Lenka said he can not say how Sahoo amassed so many assets.
Vigilance officials said recruitment-related applicant admit cards and other incriminating documents have also been recovered during the searches.
In 2017, Odisha topped the country in cases of criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. The state vigilance filed 222 criminal misconduct cases under the Act in 2017. As per section 13 of the Act, a public servant who habitually accepts any gratification other than legal remuneration is liable to be charged under it.
