Bhubaneswar: An additional superintendent of police (ASP) in Odisha was remanded to judicial custody Wednesday for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, according to the Vigilance department.
Personnel of the anti-corruption agency had conducted raids at 11 places belonging to the ASP(Communication) of Odisha Police, Trinath Mishra, and his close relatives for over two days.
After a thorough search, inventory, and inquiry, the income, expenditure, and assets of the police officer posted in Cuttack were calculated and he was found in possession of assets worth Rs. 9 crore which constituted 489 per cent of his known sources of income, the Vigilance department said.
Mishra was arrested on Tuesday after he failed to satisfactorily account for the properties and assets in his possession.
He was sent to judicial custody for 14 days after his bail petition was rejected by a vigilance court in Cuttack on Wednesday.
A Vigilance official said that Mishra has one 3 BHK flat in Bhubaneswar, a double storied building in Nabarangpur district, one farmhouse at Badachana in Jajpur district, and four plots at Bhubaneswar and Jajpur.
Bank deposits worth Rs.43.32 lakh, gold ornaments valued at Rs.16.85 lakh, and Rs 5,27,710 in cash were also detected during the search.
The Vigilance sleuths also found a fleet of vehicles registered in his name and his family members during the operation, the officer said.
The police officer is also suspected to have invested ill-gotten money in business in the name of his family members.
The officer said that a nursing home at Chandikhol in Jajpur district and a medicine shop were registered in the name of the ASP’s spouse.
Mishra’s wife Diptimaya Choudhury described the raid as part of a conspiracy against her husband.
Meanwhile, Vigilance DG Y K Jethwa said since January, the anti-corruption wing of the police has already registered 31 cases and at least 23 government employees, including four Class 1 officers, have been arrested.
“In the coming days, we are committed to intensifying our actions , equipped with feedback generated by ‘Mo Sarkar’ and taking advantage of digital data and footprints generated in financial transactions and activities of individuals”, Jethwa said.
‘Mo Sarkar’ is a system of the Odisha government, which collects random feedback on bribery, harassment from common citizens.
PTI