By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:Today, Sri Santosh Kumar Panda, Ex. Sr. Assistant, Sub-Treasury
Office, Chandbali along with his 5 other associates was arrested by Odisha
Vigilance and forwarded to the Court of Spl Judge, Vigilance, Balasore for their
alleged involvement in Rs.8 crore financial fraud.
OVERVIEW OF THE INCIDENT:In a significant crackdown on administrative corruption, the Odisha Vigilance has arrested Sri Santosh Kumar Panda, a former Senior Assistant of the Sub-Treasury Office, Chandbali, Bhadrak. Sri Panda is accused of masterminding a
prolonged criminal conspiracy that resulted in the misappropriation of Rs.8,04,76,146 from the state exchequer between 2018 and 2023.
MODUS OPERANDI:
The investigation reveals a sophisticated manipulation of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), exploiting the trust-based digital workflow between clerks and authorizing officers.
INITIAL LEGITIMACY: A genuine Pension, Gratuity, or Commutation of Value of Pension (CVP) bill is processed and paid to a real pensioner.
THE COOLING PERIOD:
Sri Panda was waiting for 5 to 6 months after the genuine transaction was completed to avoid immediate detection.
DIGITAL FORGERY:Using his official Login ID and Password, Sri Panda accessed the
“Gratuity Payment Menu” on the IFMS Portal. He re-entered the original Pension
Payment Order (PPO) number and ID of the genuine pensioner. Instead of the
pensioner’s account, he generated a “Third-Party GPO (Govt. Pension Order) ID,”
diverting the funds to his associates.
LACK OF VERIFICATION:The Sub-Treasury Officer (the approving authority) allegedly approvedthese bills using a separate login without verifying if the bill had already been paid
or if the beneficiary details matched the original authority.
STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN:The scale of the misappropriation is evidenced by the volume of transactions and the network involved:
TOTAL AMOUNT: Rs.8,04,76,146/-
TIME FRAME: July 25, 2018, to May 4, 2023.
TRANSACTIONS: 102 individual fraudulent bills.
THE NETWORK:Funds were funneled into 44 different bank accounts belonging to 37
private individuals (associates of Sri Panda).
In this connection, Odisha Vigilance has registered a case vide Vigilance Cell PS Case No.03/2026 against Sri Santosh Kumar Panda, Ex-Sr. Assistant, SubTreasury, Chandbali and his associates namely Sri Siba Shankar Samal, Sri Deb Shankar Samal, Sri Prafulla Kumar Rout, Sri Sandip Kumar Mitra, and Sri Abhay Kumar Panda U/s 13(2) r/w 13(1)(a) Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018/406/409/467/468/471/477/120-B IPC.
Further investigation is ongoing to identify and apprehend the other
associates and officials who may have facilitated the embezzlement.
