Odisha Vigilance officials have seized 606 grams of gold ornaments valued at about Rs 84 lakh from a bank locker operated by former superintending engineer Prasanjit Das in Bargarh, weeks after his arrest over alleged possession of unaccounted cash.
A vigilance official said the ornaments were recovered from Das’s bank locker on Wednesday. The seizure follows an earlier operation in which officials allegedly found Rs 7,28,620 in suspected ill-gotten cash in a vehicle used by Das.
Das was arrested on October 17 after Odisha Vigilance officials intercepted the vehicle. The agency subsequently searched his residence and, according to officials, recovered an additional Rs 14.60 lakh in cash.
The latest recovery brings gold assets into the case alongside the cash seizures. Vigilance officials valued the ornaments at approximately Rs 84 lakh, while the recovered quantity was recorded at around 606 grams. The locker was operated by Das in Bargarh, where the gold was seized.
The case concerns a former superintending engineer, a senior technical and administrative position in the public works system. The supplied report does not state the department in which Das served, the precise allegations forming the basis of the investigation, or whether the seized gold has been linked to a specific procurement, contract or property transaction.
Officials have described the cash recovered from the vehicle as suspected ill-gotten money. The cash recovered from the residence and the gold ornaments from the bank locker are part of the material seized during the vigilance proceedings. The allegations remain subject to the ongoing legal process.
The latest action follows the sequence of interception, arrest, residential searches and locker recovery reported by the vigilance authorities. No further details about the investigation’s next procedural steps were provided in the supplied report.
