Over 1 kg gold, assets worth crores unearthed from arrested GST officer in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Vigilance sleuths have unearthed assets worth crores from the possession of CT and GST officer Chittaranjan Mohanty, who was arrested on charges of taking bribe from a person a few days ago.

The Vigilance officials have found 1.135 kg gold, including 19 gold biscuits, from the lockers of Mohanty and his spouse at Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of Punjab and Sind Bank in CDA area of Cuttack, said an official.

The total value of the gold found from the lockers of Mohanty and his spouse have been estimated at Rs 64 lakh, he added.

The sleuths have unearthed bank and insurance deposits and mutual fund investments to the tune of Rs 1.04 crore in the names of Mohanty and his family members.

“Our officials have found Rs 5.4 lakh in cash from the locker of Mohanty at Bank of Maharashtra. They have also recovered Rs 1 lakh from a cupboard at Mohanty’s office,” said the official.

Notably, Mohanty, a CT & GST Officer, Enforcement Unit, Paradeep, in Jagatsinghpur district was apprehended by Odisha Vigilance on March 31 while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 80,000 from a complainant in order to release his seized documents and furnish closure report of CT & GST case instituted against him.

The entire bribe money was recovered from the accused, sources said.

Following the seizure of cash, simultaneous house searches were conducted at three locations to trace the assets of the accused disproportionate to his known sources of income, they added.

Cuttack Vigilance P.S case No.4 dt.30.03.2023 U/s 7 P.C Amendment Act, 2018 was registered in this regard.