‘Crorepati’ engineer held on retirement day

Bhubaneswar: An engineer was arrested on the last day of his service on Saturday for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, the State Vigilance said. He was apprehended a day after Rs 2.56 crore in cash was recovered and several immovable assets were detected during search operations on the premises linked to the engineer. “Vigilance sleuths arrested Baikuntha Nath Sarangi, Chief Engineer, Plan Roads, RW (Rural Works) department,” an official said. Sarangi, who was scheduled to retire after 34 years of service in the State government as an engineer on May 31, was booked under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The engineer would be produced before the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Angul, he said.

The anti-corruption wing of the Odisha Police had raided seven places linked to Sarangi on Friday. When a team of Vigilance sleuths reached his residence, he had attempted to dispose of the bundles of Rs 500 notes by throwing them out of the window of his flat in Bhubaneswar. The engineer was found in possession of assets, including over Rs 2.56 crore in cash, two multi-storeyed buildings, two flats, seven high-value plots, bank deposits worth Rs 1.5 crore, investment in shares, mutual fund and insurance worth Rs 2.7 crore, gold of over 1.141 kg, 15 imported wrist watches and others.

“These assets are disproportionate to his known sources of income as he could not produce satisfactory documents to prove the source of cash and valuables,” an official said, adding that the investigation is underway. The cash recovery from Sarangi’s places was considered the third biggest seizure by the Odisha Vigilance.

The highest cash seizure of Rs 3.41 crore was made from the house of a former assistant engineer of the minor irrigation division in Ganjam district in 2022. Over Rs 3.12 crore was recovered from the house of a former additional sub-collector, Nabarangpur, in 2023, Vigilance sources said.