Bhubaneswar: An RTO in Odisha has been arrested by the vigilance sleuths for amassing property worth as much as Rs. 19 crore. The Odisha Vigilance department officials on Thursday unearthed properties worth crores following simultaneous raids at different places linked to Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Boudh over the alleged accumulation of assets disproportionate (DA) to his known sources of income.
The RTO, Basanta Kumar Mohpatra, was found in possession of two flats in Bhubaneswar worth Rs 1 crore each and two commercial shopping outlets at Utkal Kanika Galleria Mall at Gautam Nagar, Bhubaneswar worth Rs 2 crore, deposits in bank accounts, insurance policies and investment in bonds and mutual funds worth Rs 3,90,59,000, cash of Rs 1,16,700, gold weighing 590 gm and silver 318 gm, one 2-wheeler and household articles worth about Rs 9 lakh.
The anti-corruption sleuths also came across documents which revealed that Mohapatra has paid Rs 1.35 crore to a realtor as advance amount for the purchase of one 5-BHK flat at Kalarahanga here. Mohapatra has also paid Rs 88 lakhs as advance to purchase a flat in Bengaluru city in Karnataka.
“Mohapatra had joined as a Mechanical Engineer on September 9, 1991 under the government Odisha in the Transport Department. He was later promoted to the rank of Junior MVI in the year 2014 and worked in Balasore, Koraput, Bargarh and Gajpati districts. He was promoted to the rank of MVI in 2021 and posted at RTO-II, Bhubaneswar. At present, Mohapatra is working as RTO, Boudh,” said vigilance sources.
The Vigilance officials suspect that the market price of the immovable assets is much higher than the price mentioned in the agreement documents. The Vigilance Technical Wing is examining to ascertain the actual price of the said properties. The vigilance sources also asserted that the probe is on to know the source of the assets.
Earlier, the sleuths carried out simultaneous house searches at ten places related to Mohapatra in Bhubaneswar (Khurdha), Boudh and Ganjam districts including rented accommodation of Mohapatra located at Jagannath Vihar, Rajanpalli, Boudh, paternal house located at Bhanjanagar, house of his relative at Kamapali, Berhampur in Ganjam district.
As many as 10 teams of Odisha Vigilance comprising two additional SPs, six DSPs, six Inspectors and other staff conducted the search on the strength of search warrants issued by the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar. (With Inputs From: IANS)
Ms Kalinga