Odisha Vigilance Arrests Six in Alleged ₹9.24 Crore Public Fund Diversion Case

Odisha Vigilance on Sunday arrested four more persons in connection with the alleged ₹9.24 crore government fund scam, taking the total number of arrests to six, officials said.

The arrests are part of an ongoing corruption investigation into the alleged diversion of public money from the office of the Superintending Engineer, Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division-I, Bhubaneswar, to private bank accounts linked to relatives and associates of the accused.

The four persons arrested on Sunday include two peons and two private data-entry operators engaged by Section Officer Banalata Mohanty. Mohanty and Junior Assistant Bibhudutta Nayak were arrested on Saturday.

According to Vigilance officials, the investigation has so far established the alleged involvement of six staff members of the Superintending Engineer's office.

The accused allegedly generated fake sanction orders and bills amounting to ₹9.24 crore between the 2022-23 and 2025-26 financial years. While genuine bills carried the bank details of authorised beneficiaries, the forged bills allegedly contained substituted account numbers belonging to relatives and associates of the accused.

The case has raised concerns over financial controls and accountability in the handling of government funds, particularly t

The mechanisms used to verify bills, beneficiary details and sanction orders before public money is released.

The Odisha Vigilance Department has registered a case against the six accused and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

The arrests underline the role of vigilance agencies in detecting alleged manipulation of government financial records and pursuing those suspected of diverting public funds.

Further investigation is underway to determine the full extent of the alleged misappropriation and establish whether other individuals were involved in the financial irregularities.