On Friday, Santanu Mohapatra, the Deputy Director and Project Director of a watershed project in Malkangiri district, was arrested by the Odisha Vigilance. He is facing charges of amassing assets worth 414% of his known income sources.
In addition to Mohapatra, four accomplices were arrested for their role in facilitating the accumulation of these illicit assets. These individuals include Mohan Mandal, Assistant Agriculture Engineer; Biswajit Mandal, Data Entry Operator (DEO); and Amiyakanta Sahu, a Contractual Staff member, all from the PD Watershed office in Malkangiri.
Alekh Pradhan, a man who operates a Jan Seva Kendra in Ganjam district, was also arrested. Investigations revealed that Pradhan acted as a middleman for Mohapatra, collecting bribes from contractors and others. Pradhan transferred these illegal payments into Mohapatra’s account, with over Rs 1 crore moved between 2019 and 2024.
The Vigilance team uncovered further evidence during searches, showing that Mohapatra and his team had likely embezzled government funds by falsifying work reports and withdrawing payments made to laborers. Numerous passbooks belonging to laborers were recovered during raids on the properties of DEO Biswajit Mandal and Contractual Staff Amiyakanta Sahu.
Authorities suspect that the accused were using laborers’ bank accounts to facilitate these withdrawals, which were then misappropriated. A full inquiry is underway, with a detailed examination of the past two years’ records for any further discrepancies.
The investigation began on Wednesday with simultaneous raids at seven locations tied to Mohapatra, including his properties in Malkangiri, Cuttack, and Bhubaneswar. The searches uncovered assets that included a triple-storey house in Jeypore, four prime land plots in Bhubaneswar and Jeypore, 422.44 grams of gold jewelry, bank and insurance deposits totaling Rs 91,10,306, a car, two motorcycles, and household items valued at Rs 29.08 lakh.
