DA case: ED seizes ex-forest official's assets worth Rs 40 lakh in Odisha

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said that it has attached movable assets of former forest official Biraj Mohan Mohanty and his wife Sibanee Mohanty worth Rs 40.2 lakh in connection with disproportionate assets (DA) case.

The ED in a statement said that it has attached the amount in form of bank balances as well as immovable assets located at Bhubaneswar under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The ED case is based on an FIR registered against Mohanty, an erstwhile Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) in the office of District Forest Office, Wild Life Division, in Odisha’s Bhadrak and his wife Sibanee under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018).

A charge sheet arising out of aforesaid FIR has also been filed therein before the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Balasore.

The ED probe revealed that Mohanty illicitly enriched himself and his family by acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of Rs 57.60 lakh.

Mohanty acquired the proceeds of crime, through commission of scheduled offence, which were concealed and invested in creation of various assets in his name as well as his family’s name to hide their source and project them as untainted, the ED said.

The properties to the tune of Rs 40.20 lakh acquired by Mohanty and his wife have been attached.