Pradeep Rath, Additional Chief of the Cuttack Circle OBCC, has been arrested by Vigilance authorities on charges of misappropriation of assets. Rath is accused of accumulating property disproportionate to his known income.
Yesterday, Vigilance teams conducted raids at 12 locations including Cuttack, Khordha, Bhadrak, Jajpur, and Bhubaneswar, targeting Rath’s properties. The raids uncovered a three-storey building in Bhubaneswar, another three-storey building in Bhadrak, an apartment in Chandrashekharpur, a flat in Pandara, and a crossover vehicle in Dhenkanal.
Vigilance officers seized 45 plots, two JCB machines, one excavator, one car, and two bikes from Rath’s properties across various locations. Additionally, they recovered Rs 1.62 crore in cash from banks and post offices and one kilogram of gold from his residence. The scale of Rath’s assets surprised the officials. Despite the extensive evidence, Rath struggled to provide satisfactory explanations for the source of his wealth during interrogation. He was formally arrested today and remains under investigation.