Odisha vigilance unearths govt fund of ₹9.24 crore siphoned off by clerical staff
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Odisha Vigilance Directorate has detected massive fraud carried out by clerical staff at an engineer’s office where false bills pertaining to provisional gratuity, unutilized leave salary in the names of retired employees, and ingenuine claims were processed and fund to the tune of ₹9.24 crore was embezzled.
“During investigation, it has come to notice that between financial year of 2022–23 and 2025–26, accused persons Banalata Mohanty, section officer, and Bibhudutta Nayak, junior assistant both attached to the establishment section at the Office of the Superintending Engineer (SE), Roads & Buildings (R&B) Division-I, Bhubaneswar have entered into conspiracy with unknown associates, fraudulently generated fake sanction orders and bills,” said the Vigilance Directorate in a release on Sunday (September 27, 2026).
“These bills pertained to provisional gratuity, unutilized leave salary in the names of retired employees, and ingenuine claims against the office contingency fund. These fraudulent bills were illegally and unauthorizedly processed in the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) to siphon of the government money,” it said.
“While genuine bills carried authentic beneficiary bank details, the forged bills contained substituted bank account numbers belonging to relatives and acquaintances of accused. A total of 77 bank accounts belonging to 48 individuals, including the son, the driver, and associates of Mohanty, brothers and relatives of Nayak, were used to receive the misappropriated funds,” the directorate elaborated.
The investigation revealed the account holders subsequently transferred some money back to the primary accused or withdrew cash to hand over to them.
“After detection of the embezzlement and initiation of enquiry into the matter, Rs.3.96 crores of misappropriated amount have been recovered by the administrative authority,” it informed.
Four persons — Dipak Kumar Routray and Laxman Biswal, both colleagues of the accused, and two data entry operators—Rajib Lochan Senapati and Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra — were arrested for collusion with Mohanty and Nayak.
The Vigilance Directorate officials found ₹32.47 lakh credited to bank account of Routray, a peon. Similarly, Biswal, another peon, received ₹16.21 lakh from the defrauded fund. Senapati and Mohapatra, both data entry operators, had their bank accounts credited with ₹28.28 lakh and ₹35.69 lakh respectively.
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