₹38 lakh cash seized from crorepati deputy manager of Odisha police

The vigilance officials could not give a final figure to the total disproportionate assets owned by the accused official

Published on: Nov 10, 2021, 24:06:09 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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The anti-corruption sleuths of Odisha on Tuesday seized currency notes worth ₹38 lakh from a deputy manager of Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation Limited while he was trying to dump part of it in a carton to his neighbour’s roof during the raid, officials said.

Pratap Kumar Samal, deputy manager of the OSPHWC, the government body that constructs residential and non-residential buildings of police personnel, was throwing ₹20 lakh currency notes kept in a carton to his neighbour’s roof in Bhubaneswar’s IRC village when the vigilance officials caught him red-handed. Another ₹18 lakh cash was recovered from his residence, said a senior vigilance official who was part of the raiding team.

Though the vigilance officials could not give a final figure to the total disproportionate assets owned by Samal and his wife, they said he was found to be owning a five-storeyed building in Bhubaneswar valued at ₹3.89 crore among others.

A total of 25 immovable properties, including 5 patches of land and a 4-storeyed building in Bhadrak district, 17 plots and 2 buildings in Bhubaneswar and Khordha were found from his possession. As many as 10 teams of Odisha Vigilance conducted the searches following search warrants issued by the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar.

The 53-year-old joined Odisha Police as a junior engineer in 1988 and worked as an estimator till he was promoted to the rank of deputy manager in 2013. He was transferred to Bhubaneswar in 2019.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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