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3.02 crore cash recovered in the raids, (Image: News18)
Additional sub-collectible assets Prashanta Kumar Rout included a multi-storey building, cash in excess of Rs. 3.02 crore, deposits in excess of Rs. 92.34, five lots, two four-wheelers among others.
The Vigilance Wing of Odisha Police recovered assets worth more than Rs 5 crore and arrested an additional sub-collector of Noarangpur during raids on the residences of the government officer at various places in the state, officials said on Saturday.
Additional sub-collectible assets Prashanta Kumar Rout included a multi-storey building, cash in excess of Rs. 3.02 lakhs, deposits in excess of Rs. 92.34 lakhs (including Rs. 38.64 lakhs deposits in my Banami account), five plots of land, and two four wheelers. It was also discovered that INR 87,000 spent on education of two children, etc.
The locals expressed their relief over these raids and celebrated the incident by detonating crackers and distributing sweets. “It feels like you have been liberated from the clutches of Ravana. Root’s main job was to siphon off money,” said one local resident.
The anti-corruption wing had to look in the most likely places for hidden funds. It is said that Root’s wife threw six cartons full of cash onto a neighbour’s balcony and then called them asking for the cash to be hidden. In addition, his family kept the officers waiting for more than 20 minutes before allowing them entry to Kannan Vihar’s residence in Bhubaneswar.
As per sources, Rs 3.02 crore cash has been recovered from Root residences in Bhubaneswar and Naparangpur. He appears to have made regular cash deposits into a number of Banami’s bank accounts. Details of one such account, opened in the name of an acquaintance at IndusInd Bank, Bhubaneswar, were collected. It is suspected that Root made cash deposits of Rs 21,000 from 2019 onwards,” according to the alert release.
The forfeited assets include a two-storey building with a total area of 1,942 sq ft at HIG-115, Kannan Vihar, Bhubaneswar, five plots of land (including four in prime areas of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar), and one Panami plot at Omarkot, Noarangpur, which is currently under development. verification. The measurement and evaluation of the building and plots is carried out by the Technical Vigilance Wing. Bank and insurance deposits of over Rs 41,000 were also recovered.
In addition, two four-wheelers (Innova and Maruti Swift) and two-wheeler (Honda Activa) were found to have a total value of Rs 37 lakh. The cost of the benami Innova, estimated at Rs 29.5 lakh, is under verification. Moreover, gold, silver jewellery, and household items worth more than 21.35 lakh rupees were also discovered during the raid.
Radha Krishna, Vigilance Cell SP M stated, “Rs 3,02,30,800 were recovered from Root residences during the search. Two four-wheelers (Innova and Maruti Swift) and five plots of land were discovered, including four in key areas of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar , in the raid. It is speculated that he has earned more than Rs 5 crore, and he is unable to give a satisfactory answer as to the source. This amount is about 500 times more than his income.”
The OAS officer joined the service on 1 July 1996. He has served as Ktehsildar in Kindrapada, Jaipur, Balasore and Bargarh districts, as well as BDO in Jaipur, Cuttack, Kandrapada and Sundargarh districts. On 6 November 2018, Root was arrested for allegedly soliciting and accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000,000 from a Gharbani executive to give management approval on a project worth Rs 11.50 lakh. At that time, he was working as a Block Development Officer (BDO) in Bisra, Sundargarh District. It was later placed under suspension and reinstated on January 18, 2020, as an additional secondary complex for Naparangpur.
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