Rs 3 Crore Seized During Raids At Odisha Official's Residences: Cops

The vigilance wing of Odisha Police recovered over Rs 3 crore in cash during raids at the residences of a government officer at different places in the state, officials said.

The department officials found the cash in possession of Prasanta Kumar Rout, an Odisha Administrative Officer (OAS) posted as the additional sub-collector in Nabarangpur district, during multiple raids at his residences in Bhubaneswar, Nabarangpur and other places, they said on Friday.

The accused officer's wife allegedly threw six cash-stashed cartons to their neighbour's terrace at Kanan Vihar in Bhubaneswar and requested them to hide the currency, when the personnel of the wing arrived there, the officials said.

The boxes were later recovered from the neighbour's house, and multiple counting machines were used to count the cash, they said.

Another Rs 89.5 lakh in cash along with gold ornaments were recovered from Rout's Nabarangpur residence, the officials said.

"This is the second biggest recovery of cash from a government official in the state. In April 2022, we had recovered Rs 3.41-crore cash during raids on properties of Kartikeswar Roul, who was posted as an assistant engineer in Minor Irrigation Division in Ganjam district," an official statement issued by the Vigilance Department said.

As many as nine teams of the department were engaged in the searches, it said.

Rout was arrested in 2018 for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a panchayat executive officer while he was serving as a BDO in Sundargarh district.

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