Bhubaneswar,(Orissa Today) Feb 7: The Odisha Vigilance on Friday arrested Malkangiri Watershed Deputy Director Santanu Mohapatra and four of his aides for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The arrested individuals include Assistant Agriculture Engineer Mohan Mandal, Data Entry Operator Biswajit Mandal, Contractual Staffer Amiyakanta Sahu, and Alekh Pradhan, who operated a Jan Seva Kendra in Jagannathprasad, Ganjam. Pradhan was allegedly collecting bribes online from contractors and others on behalf of Mohapatra.
During simultaneous house searches on Wednesday, Vigilance officials uncovered a multi-storey building, four high-value plots, 422 grams of gold, deposits exceeding ₹91 lakh, and ₹2 crore in cash from Mohapatra’s residence in Jeypore. The officer failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for these assets.
Further investigation revealed that Mohapatra and his associates manipulated work completion records and diverted government funds. Payments were made to laborers’ accounts, which were later withdrawn and misappropriated. Numerous laborer passbooks were seized from the residences of Mandal and Sahu. Evidence of money transfers exceeding ₹1 crore by Pradhan between 2019 and 2024 was also found.
On Thursday, Mohapatra was brought to Bhubaneswar for an inventory of his bank locker at SBI’s Kapilaprasad branch. Odisha Vigilance is continuing its probe to uncover the full extent of financial misappropriation.
Odisha Vigilance arrests Malkangiri Watershed Deputy Director in corruption case
