Forest employee detained for disproportionate assets: Gold, properties and foreign currency seized

Bhubaneswar: Just five months before his retirement, a forest department employee, who began his career with a modest monthly salary of Rs 625 in 1988 and now earns around Rs 70,000, was detained on Friday after vigilance searches unearthed his alleged disproportionate assets (DA). Niranjan Satapathy, 59, currently posted as a forester in Koraput, faces arrest on Saturday.According to an official statement, the searches revealed an extraordinary accumulation of wealth exceeding far beyond his known sources of income. Preliminary disclosures listed around 1 kg of gold jewellery, two three-storey residential buildings in Bhubaneswar’s Jharpada locality, another house in Semiliguda (Koraput), and seven high-value plots spread across various districts. Officers also seized about Rs 9 lakh in cash, Rs 67 lakh in deposits and insurance investments, Rs 1.6 lakh invested in bitcoins, and currencies from the US, Vietnam and Thailand. The value and source of foreign currencies were being investigated.What particularly stunned the vigilance officers was the opulence of interiors in Satapathy’s properties. His Jharpada residence had expensive wooden furniture, sculptures, and rare stone and wooden artefacts, reflecting a lifestyle far removed from his official earnings.“We are trying to ascertain the value of these household articles. His previous postings and works executed are being examined. The potential sources where he could have amassed huge assets through corruption are being identified,” a senior vigilance officer said. The investigation is expected to intensify, with Satapathy likely to face charges under DA provisions.In a parallel operation, vigilance officers also unearthed illegal assets belonging to Nihar Ranjan Sarkar, a junior engineer in Malkangiri block. Sarkar was found to own a palatial triple-storey building spread over 8,000 sq ft in Malkangiri town, eight plots in the same locality, and cash amounting to Rs 2 lakh. Officers said that investigation will continue to uncover the full extent of his assets and identify the channels through which such wealth was accumulated.