How a Rs 30,000 bribe trap uncovered biggest-ever seizure of Rs 4 crore cash and gold at Odisha babu’s home

A routine trap to catch a Rs 30,000 bribe in Odisha has blown open a much bigger story. Vigilance officials on Wednesday recovered more than Rs 4 crore in unaccounted cash, along with gold and property details, from the residence of a senior mines official in Bhubaneswar, a day after arresting him in Cuttack.

Bribe trap leads to biggest-ever seizure in state

Odisha Vigilance arrested Debabrata Mohanty, deputy director of mines in Cuttack, on Tuesday night while he was allegedly accepting a Rs 30,000 bribe from a coal vendor.

According to Vigilance director Yeshwant Jethwa, the case has now turned into the highest-ever cash seizure in a trap case in the state.



Officials said Mohanty had allegedly demanded the bribe from a licenced businessman to facilitate coal depot operations and grant transport permission.

Cash stuffed in bags, cupboards at Bhubaneswar flat

Soon after the arrest, vigilance teams searched Mohanty’s flat at Shree Vihar in Patia, Bhubaneswar.

They recovered over Rs 4 crore in cash hidden inside trolley bags and almirahs. Officers also found Rs 1.2 lakh in cash in his office drawer.

The scale of recovery surprised officials, who said the seizure was far beyond what is usually seen in such trap cases.

During the searches, officials also traced other assets linked to Mohanty. These include a double-storey house at Pahala in Bhubaneswar and about 130 grams of gold.

The Vigilance team is now examining the source of the cash and assets and checking whether they are linked to other irregularities in mining permissions and operations.