Odisha govt officer held for possessing crypto worth over Rs 1.75 crore

The Odisha Police on Saturday arrested a government engineer after cryptocurrency valued at over Rs 1.75 crore was found in his possession, officials said.

The arrested Additional Chief Engineer (Planning, Monitoring, Design & Investigation) under Rural Water Supply and sanitation was to retire on Monday.

He was arrested on the charge of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

A vigilance court remanded him to jail custody for 14 days.

The cryptos were found in a raid on the additional chief engineer by the Vigilance Department in a corruption case, they said.

The raid which began on Friday continued on Saturday.

As soon as the officer and his family found the investigators at their doorstep, they tried to destroy evidence of the cryptocurrency they possessed, said an official statement.

The investigators carried out simultaneous searches of his properties across Khurdha, Sambalpur and Bargarh districts after search warrants were issued by a judge.

They found eight plots in Sambalpur worth Rs 1.27 crore, insurance deposit worth about Rs 64.42 lakh, two four-wheelers worth Rs 39 lakh, two two-wheelers worth Rs 3 lakh, 332 gm gold jewellery worth over Rs 10 lakh, household articles worth Rs 15.55 lakh and Rs 1.7 lakh in cash, the statement said.