The Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Thursday conducted raids on the properties of a Project Administrator (PA), Integrated Tribal Development Authority (ITDA) and detected huge movable and immovable assets including cash deposits worth crores of rupees.

The Odisha Welfare Service officer Biswadarsi Sahoo was in charge of implementation of State and Central grants for tribal development projects and social security schemes in Bonai, Sundargarh district. The amassing of huge assets by the corrupt officer lends credence to the belief that grants for tribal welfare are being gobbled up, not reaching the targeted sections.

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The assets detected so far include among other things a multi-storeyed building, two residential flats at posh locations of Bhubaneswar, Rs 82 lakh advance paid to realtor, nine high-value residential plots, 150 grams’ gold, Rs 4.51 lakh cash and deposits worth Rs 61 lakh.

Sahoo is being questioned to ascertain the source of the assets. Further searches are continuing. Unearthing of more assets is likely and overall valuation is likely to increase, said the Vigilance officials.