Bhubaneswar: The anti-corruption vigilance sleuths detected 50 more crypto wallets in possession of a government engineer arrested in a disproportionate assets case.
The vigilance wing on October 29 had arrested Nihar Ranjan Das, Additional Chief Engineer, Planning, Monitoring, Design, Investigation under RWSS Circle, Bhubaneswar, on charge of possessing disproportionate assets. He was produced in the Special Vigilance court which sent him to jail.
Meanwhile, the vigilance sleuths brought him on remand for further investigation.
“During further searches, apart from the documents of 38 crypto wallets recovered during his house search, more evidence and details of 50 more crypto wallets have been recovered by contact with various crypto exchanges. With this total crypto wallets unearthed so far comes to 88,” the vigilance said in a statement.
The crypto wallets were in different exchanges like TRX-Trons, Trust wallets, PLCU etc. “All these wallets and ids were in the exclusive possession and operation of Nihar Ranjan Das,” the statement said, adding that during investigations so far, a total of Rs 2 crore in crypto assets has been unearthed.
Das, who was arrested barely three days before his retirement from the government service, is being questioned by a special investigation team comprising of financial experts, technical personnel. A special team of crypto experts from Mumbai is in Bhubaneswar and assisting Odisha Vigilance in investigating his crypto assets on various platforms.
This apart, the bank transactions of Das and his family members are being investigated, the vigilance said.
PTI