Bhubaneswar, September 26: Odisha Vigilance on Saturday arrested two Roads & Buildings (R&B) officials for allegedly embezzling public money to the tune of Rs 9,24,10,193.
The accused duo has been identified as Banalata Mohanty, Section Officer and Bibhudutta Nayak, Junior Assistant, both attached to the Establishment Section of the office of the Superintending Engineer (SE), Roads & Buildings (R&B) Division-I, Bhubaneswar.
“On the basis of verification and enquiry into allegations of misappropriation of public funds, Odisha Vigilance has registered a case relating to the embezzlement of government funds amounting to Rs 9,24,10,193 at the Office of the Superintending Engineer (SE), Roads & Buildings (R&B) Division-I, Bhubaneswar,” said a Vigilance communique.
During investigation, it was revealed that between FY 2022-23 and FY 2025-26, accused duo - Banalata and Bibhudutta - in conspiracy with unknown associates, fraudulently generated fake sanction orders and bills. These bills pertained to provisional gratuity, unutilized leave salary in the names of retired employees, and ingenuine claims against the office contingency fund. These fraudulent bills were illegally and unauthorizedly processed in the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) to siphon of the Government money.
While genuine bills carried authentic beneficiary bank details, the forged bills contained substituted bank account numbers belonging to relatives, acquaintances, etc.
A total of 77 bank accounts belonging to 48 individuals, including the son, the driver, and associates of Banalata and brothers and relatives of Bibhudutta were used to receive the misappropriated funds.
The account holders subsequently transferred some money back to the primary accused or withdrew cash to hand over to them. After detection of the embezzlement and initiation of enquiry into the matter, Rs 3.96 crore of misappropriated amount has been recovered by the administrative authority.
A case has been registered against Banalata and Bibhudutta at Bhubaneswar Vigilance police station under Prevention of Corruption Act,1988 and Sections 316(5)/318(4)/336(3)/338/340(2)/61(2) of the BNS, 2023.
