Insight Bureau: Another corrupt official landed in vigilance net in Odisha today. Pratap Kumar Samal, Deputy Manager of Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation, has been raided by the vigilance sleuths, which led to discovery of huge properties.
Several houses, including a 3-storeryed building in Balisahi, Basudevpur, a five-storeyed building at Gothapatana, Bhubaneswar and another house in IRC Village, Nayapalli, were found on his and family’s name.
As per the Vigilance Officials, he and his family own 22 plots (17 in Bhubaneswar & Khordha and 5 in Bhadrak) and 5 buildings.
During the raid, Pratap Samal threw a bag full of notes to neighbour’s room. That contained Rs 20 lakh cash. In total, Rs 38 lakh cash were seized from his house. Raids were simultaneously conducted at 10 places.
While the Vigilance continues their valuation, the total assets of Pratap Samal may exceed 7-8 crore, it is believed.
Born on 20th August, 1968, Pratap Samal had completed Diploma in Civil Engineering at Barapada School of Engineering, Bhadrak in 1987. He joined the Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation on 14th August 1988 as a Junior Engineer at Bhubaneswar Head Office. He continued as the Estimator till 1994-95. He worked at Kendrapara and Deogarh.
Pratap Samal was promoted to the rank of Deputy Manager in 2013 and worked at Rourkela, Bolangir, Keonjhar and Cuttack. He joined the Bhubaneswar Head Office in the year 2019.
List of Pratap Samal’s Assets detected so far:
1) Triple storeyed building over Plot No. N/6-416, IRC Village
2) Six storeyed building located opposite of Maa Bhagabati Temple, Biju Pattanaik College Chhaka, Jayadev Vihar
3) Single storeyed building over plot No.3/605, Sarakantra, Khandagiri
4) Flat No-202, second floor, Narendra Villa, Jayadev Vihar
5) Three storeyed apartment namely Ananya Towers at Balisahi, Basudevpur, Bhadrak
6) Native house at Haripur, Simulia, Balasore
7) 22 plots (17 in Bhubaneswar & Khordha and 5 in Bhadrak)