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Odisha constable’s richness stuns govt team. He turned 2-room flat into bungalow
Odisha police officials said the crorepati constable, Prasanna Behera, was indicted in a 2001 hooch tragedy for links with the liquor mafia by an inquiry commission. Lately, he allegedly made his money throwing his weight around as president of Odisha’s constable and havildar association to get good business deals.
BHUBANESWAR: An Odisha police constable in state capital Bhubaneswar who was arrested and dismissed from service on Sunday converted his modest government two-room flat into a lavish bungalow by unauthorised construction of 8 new rooms, vigilance department officials said on Thursday.
Vigilance department officials who conducted Thursday’s raids at multiple locations linked to dismissed police constable Prasanna Behera said they were surprised to find how the former policeman upgraded his modest two-room government accommodation at Kalpana square in Bhubaneswar by constructing 8 more rooms including 3 bedrooms and 5 other rooms including separate drawing and dining rooms, kitchen, puja room and bathrooms.
Behera, who was also president of Odisha’s Havildar and Constable Association, was arrested last week for running a bar on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar without a valid licence. It also transpired that he already had eight department proceedings and five criminal cases pending against him. The justice MN Patnaik commission of inquiry that probed into a hooch tragedy that led to 21 deaths in Khurda district back in 2001 had also castigated Behera over his links with liquor mafia.
This time, the state government, in view of the evidence available against him, went ahead last week to sack him under Article 311 of the Constitution, a provision that implies he will not be entitled to get pension.
A vigilance department official who raided his premises on Thursday said Behera was unlikely to miss the pension.
The official said they discovered Behera has a 18,000 square feet furniture showroom in the city worth over ₹4 crore, a plot of land worth ₹45 lakh in Khordha, a flat in the name of his wife worth ₹24 lakh in Sundarpada, Bhubaneswar, insurance deposits over ₹50 lakh apart from some other movable assets such as four-wheelers and two-wheelers.
HT reached out to the police constable’s family for his version on the vigilance team’s allegations but his father, Hemant Behera, declined to comment on the raids.
Vigilance officials have located 21 bank accounts linked to the constable but are yet to put a number on his deposits.
“The vigilance technical wing has also been deputed to carry out valuation of buildings while the finance wing and forest wing personnel along with professional furniture manufacturers have been roped in for valuation of costly furniture items in his showroom,” said an official of the department.
Police officials said Behera made his money throwing his weight around as president of constable and havildar association to get better business deals.
Behera was first suspended and then arrested for allegedly running a bar at Hotel South City in Patrapada area of the city after Manish Anurag, son of senior journalist Navin Das was allegedly murdered in the hotel on October 9. Manish Anurag was allegedly murdered by his friends, following an altercation with them over payment of a bill at the bar. The next day, his body was found floating in a village pond in the locality.
During investigation of the murder case, police found that the license of the bar had expired. Besides, the bar had violated Covid-19 guidelines of the state government by functioning during night curfew in the city. As investigators dug deeper, it turned out that the hotel was owned by a police constable. The vigilance team was later brought into the picture.
