By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: During the year 2022, 62 spouses were also brought in the ambit of investigations as co-accused in DA cases by Odisha Vigilance. As many as 285 criminal cases against 544 and 84 DA cases registered with arrest 200 Government and other officials including seizer of Rs 174 Crore. The State Vigilance has filed cases against 60 Class-I officers, 53 Class-II officers, 227 Class-III employees, 7 Class-IV employees, 38 other public servants and 159 private persons.
The 285 cases included 84 Disproportionate Assets (DA) cases, 118 trap cases and rest other corruption cases. Of the 285 cases, 60 were registered against Class-I officers which is the highest in the last five years.
Out of 285 cases registered in 2022, 84 cases were instituted for acquisition of disproportionate assets against 91 public servants and 56 private persons. The total disproportionate assets in all the 84 cases stood at Rs.174.83 crores.
The Vigilance has filed 32 DA cases were registered against Class-I officers and 27 DA cases were registered against Class-II officers. The top 4 cash seizures in DA searches in the history of Odisha vigilance happened in 2022 with Rs.7.01 crore seized.
In the top case, the cash seizure was Rs. 3,41,66,280 during house searches against Kartikeswar Raul, AE, MI, Bhanjanagar, Ganjam in April while Rs 1,40,18,070 cash seized during house searches against Ashish Kumar Das, SE, RW Division, Malkangiri in March.
The Vigilance has seized cash of Rs 1,13,16,720 during house searches against Dr. Sukant Jena, Gynaecologist, Charichhaka CHC following a trap in February.
In the fourth case, the anti-corruption wing seized cash of Rs 1,06,44,500 during raids against Gaya Santara, Joint Manager, IDCOL in December. Cash of Rs 1,01,70,000 seized during house searches against Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, Ex-DFO, Athagarh, Cuttack in February, 2022.
This year, 7 Government officers (3 Class-I, 2 Class-II officers & 2 Class-III employees) were intercepted while carrying unaccounted cash of Rs.27,21,770.
Similarly, the Vigilance has instituted 118 trap cases during the year against 126 public servants and 3 private persons including 12 Class-I officers, 20 Class-II officers, 86 Class-III employees, 2 Class-IV employees, 6 other public servants and 3 private persons for demand and acceptance of bribe amounting to Rs.36.94 lakhs.
The highest cash seizure in a trap case in the history of Odisha Vigilance happened in 2022.
During the year, 83 misappropriation cases relating to misappropriation of public money were registered against 270 persons, including 170 public servants and 100 private persons, involving misappropriation of public funds amounting to about Rs.19.50 crores.
Misappropriation cases were registered against 16 Class-I officers, 6 Class-II officers, 114 Class-III employees, 4 Class-IV employees, 30 other public servants and 100 private persons.
During this period, 200 persons were arrested, which included 37 Class-I officers, 39 Class-II officers, 105 Class-III employees, 4 Class-IV employees, 5 other public servants and 10 private persons, the Vigilance said in its annual report.
During investigation, the Vigilance officials conducted raids at over 600 locations against 200 corrupt public servants involved in trap/DA cases. Also 898 number of bank accounts of corrupt public servants were frozen by the Odisha Vigilance in the year.
Further, 111 number of buildings in 62 valuation cases worth Rs.24 crores were evaluated by the technical wing of Odisha Vigilance.
This year, high priority was placed on disposal along with detection. Investigations in all trap cases of 2021 and earlier were completed. Also, investigations in about 60 percent trap cases of 2022 were completed.
During the year, 347 cases were disposed of after investigation as against the registration of 285 cases, taking the disposal rate to 122 percent of registration.
As far as prosecution is concerned, the Vigilance Department had recorded 91 convictions in 2022 at about 50 percent conviction rate. Of the 91 convictions, 23 were against Class-I officers, 7 Class-II officers, 65 Class-III employees, 13 other public servants and 16 private persons.
During this period, 30 public servants (2 Class-I Officers, 8 Class-II Officers and 20 Class-III employees) were dismissed from Government service following their conviction in Vigilance cases.
During this period, Vigilance clearances were given in respect of 40,786 public servants were issued in response to 4394 letters received from various Government offices for the purpose of Promotion, VRS, Pension, Passport etc.
