Three more held over Rs 9.24 cr R&B funds scam in Bhubaneswar

BHUBANESWAR: Vigilance on Saturday arrested three more officials for allegedly misappropriating around Rs 9.24 crore government funds in the last five years.

The accused are Krushna Chandra Behera, posted as senior accountant at district treasury office in Bhubaneswar, Biswanath Das, senior assistant in Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division, Puri, and Kumud Sahoo working as peon at R&B Division-I, Bhubaneswar.

Earlier, six persons were arrested in this connection. The scam came to fore after the Vigilance apprehended section officer Banalata Mohanty and junior assistant Bibhudutta Nayak, both attached to the establishment section at the office of SE, R&B Division-I, Bhubaneswar, on September 26 in connection with the case.

Subsequently, the anti-corruption agency nabbed four other staff of R&B Division-I, Bhubaneswar, peons Dipak Kumar Routray and Laxman Biswal, and two private data entry operators Rajib Lochan Senapati and Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra. Investigation revealed junior assistant Nayak had transferred Rs 3.90 lakh using UPI to senior accountant Behera on 11 occasions from March 2025 to July 2026 to reportedly facilitate the passing of fake/fraudulent bills without objection. Das, who was earlier serving as junior assistant at the office of SE, R&B Division-I, Bhubaneswar, had allegedly provided the bank account details of himself, his mother and one of his relatives, to Mohanty and Nayak to receive the misappropriated funds.

Similarly, peon Sahoo had provided the bank account details of his wife to Mohanty and Nayak. Investigation revealed that huge amounts of funds under provisional gratuity, unutilised leave salary and other contingencies were transferred to the above accounts, said a Vigilance officer, adding further probe into the matter was underway. 

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