Bhubaneswar, Sep 27 (IANS) The Odisha Vigilance on Sunday arrested six employees of the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division under the state Works Department in Bhubaneswar for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of government funds worth more than Rs 9.24 crore.

The accused persons were identified as Dipak Kumar Routray, Laxman Biswal, Rajib Lochan Senapati and Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra.

All four are currently working at the office of the Superintending Engineer of Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division in Bhubaneswar.

The other two accused, Section Officer Banalata Mohanty and Junior Assistant Bibhudutta Nayak, who were earlier apprehended by Vigilance officials, were formally arrested on Sunday in connection with the multi-crore government fund misappropriation case.

Accused Dipak Kumar and Laxman work as peons in the Office of the Superintending Engineer, while the accused Rajib Lochan and Soumya Ranjan are private Data Entry Operators, engaged by Section Officer Banalata in the same office.

Following an enquiry into allegations of misappropriation of public funds, Odisha Vigilance has registered a case against six staffers under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in connection with the alleged embezzlement of government funds amounting to Rs 9,24,10,193 at the office of the Superintending Engineer (SE) of R&B Division in Bhubaneswar.

According to the Odisha Vigilance, its investigation found that between the financial years 2022-23 and 2025-26, accused persons Banalata, a Section Officer, and Bibhudutta, a Junior Assistant, in collusion with other staffers of the Establishment Section at the office of the SE of R&B Division in Bhubaneswar, fraudulently generated fake sanction orders and bills.

These bills pertained to provisional gratuity, unutilised leave salary in the names of retired employees, and ingenuine claims against the office contingency fund.

The accused persons illegally and unauthorisedly processed these fraudulent bills in the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) to siphon of the government money, the Odisha Vigilance said.

The agency also added that 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, 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,” the Vigilance said.

After detection of the embezzlement, the administrative authority in the R&B division has managed to recover Rs 3.96 crore of the misappropriated amount.

All the six accused persons were sent to the Vigilance Court of Special Judge in Bhubaneswar later on Sunday.

–IANS

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