Odisha: 6 officials held for diverting Rs 9.24 cr public funds

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance arrested four more employees on Sunday over the alleged Rs 9.24 crore embezzlement at Bhubaneswar’s R&B Division-1 office, bringing the total number of arrests to six.

Those arrested were Dipak Kumar Routray and Laxman Biswal, staffers of the R&B Division-I office, and two data entry operators, Rajib Lochan Senapati and Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra. The Vigilance officials said further investigation revealed that the four allegedly colluded with Section Officer Banalata Mohanty and Junior Assistant Bibhudatta Nayak, who were earlier arrested in connection with the financial fraud. The four were working under Mohanty and Nayak and allegedly received substantial amounts of the embezzled government funds in their personal bank accounts, the agency said.

Banalata and Bibhudatta were arrested earlier for allegedly diverting Rs 9.24 crore of public money to private bank accounts of their associates, officials said. The Vigilance department has been investigating the alleged misappropriation of public funds at the office of the Superintending Engineer, Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division-I, Bhubaneswar.

During the probe, officials found that Section Officer Banalata Mohanty and Junior Assistant Bibhudutta Nayak, both posted in the establishment section of the Superintending Engineer’s office, allegedly generated fake sanction orders and bills amounting to Rs 9.24 crore between the 2022-23 and 2025-26 financial years.

Fraudulent bills were raised in the names of retired employees towards provisional gratuity and unutilised leave salary, besides bogus claims against the office contingency fund. While genuine bills carried the bank details of authorised beneficiaries, the forged bills contained substituted account numbers belonging to relatives and associates of the two accused, officials said. A total of 77 bank accounts belonging to 48 people, including Mohanty’s son, driver and associates, and Nayak’s brothers and relatives, were allegedly used to receive the diverted funds.

The account holders subsequently transferred part of the money to the accused or withdrew cash and handed it over to them, officials said. After the alleged embezzlement was detected and an inquiry initiated, the administrative authorities recovered Rs 3.96 crore of the diverted amount, they said. The department has registered a case against Mohanty, Nayak and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and relevant sections of the BNS, 2023. Further investigation into the case is in progress.

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