Bhubaneswar: Former private secretary to a member of Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) Biranchi Narayan Sahoo, arrested on a disproportionate assets case July 31 last by the Vigilance, was running an insurance business along with his official duties in the name of his wife since 2009.
Sahoo was arrested after the Vigilance unearthed properties to the tune of Rs 3.51 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The Vigilance sleuths found Sahoo possessing 14 landed plots, gold ornaments weighing over 1.5 kg during raid July 30.
Vigilance sources said an investigation revealed that insurance policies of more than 900 subscribers have been solicited by Sahoo to date.
The sleuths suspected that many of the subscribers of the policies are candidates of OSSC exams who were allegedly influenced by Sahoo to invest in the insurance policies.
So far, names of 21 subscribers have been traced in the lists who were also candidates of various OSSC conducted examinations.
“The subscriber details are being scrutinised and further verification is being done to ascertain if candidates were being solicited by Sahoo for such insurance policies,” the Vigilance department sources claimed.
A top official of the Vigilance department said an inquiry is on to ascertain whether such policies were executed before the examination notifications or afterwards and check the Income Tax returns of Sahoo’s wife.
Vigilance sources also claimed that large-scale undervaluation has been detected in a number of landed properties vis-a-vis the benchmark valuations at the time of purchase.
The overall undervaluation amounts are being assessed and the sellers of these properties will be summoned for an examination soon.
It said a total of 114 admit cards of candidates of various OSSC examinations were found during a search conducted on the main residential building of Sahoo at Niladri Vihar in Chandrasekharpur area here on July 30.
Out of these 114 candidates, names of 107 candidates were not found in any select list. Bank transactions, investments in mutual funds and shares, and payment of insurance policy premiums by Sahoo and his family members, as well as benami transactions, are being verified.
