"Corruption Crackdown: Odisha Vigilance Arrests Wealthy RTO Officer in Disproportionate Assets Case"

Odisha's anti-corruption vigilance sleuths on Friday arrested Basanta Kumar Mohapatra, a regional transport officer (RTO), on charges of possessing disproportionate assets.

He was arrested following a series of raids on Thursday.

The search on Mohapatra's properties detected disproportionate assets, including two high-value flats and two commercial shopping outlets in Bhubaneswar, advance payment of Rs 2.23 crore to realtors for purchase of flats in upscale areas of Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru cities, deposits of over Rs 3.90 crore, gold weighing 590 grams, Rs 1.16 Lakh in cash and others, an official release issued by the vigilance department said.

After the detection of the properties in his possession, Mohapatra could not satisfactorily account for the assets.

Hence, he was arrested, the release said.A team of vigilance officers conducted the raids at 10 locations in Bhubaneswar (Khurda district), Boudh, and Ganjam districts on Thursday.

The vigilance officials also searched Mohapatra's official chamber at the Boudh RTO office, a rented house in Boudh, the paternal house at Bhanjanagar in Ganjam district and a relative's house at Berhampur in Ganjam, an official said.

The current market value of immovable property in possession of Mohapatra will be around Rs 14.5 crore while other assets, including deposits, gold and silver ornaments and household articles are estimated to be valued at Rs 4.5 crore.

According to vigilance officials, the current value of Mohapatra's assets is about Rs 19 crore.Mohapatra joined the government service in the transport department as a mechanical engineer in 1991.

He was promoted to the rank of junior motor vehicle inspector (MVI) in 2014 and worked in the Balasore, Koraput, Bargarh and Gajpati districts.He was promoted to the rank of MVI and posted at Bhubaneswar in 2021. Mohapatra has been working as RTO, Boudh since May 1, 2022.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)