Odisha junior assistant in health dept held for ₹2.38-cr salary fraud

BHubaneswar: A jr helper in Odisha’s wellness section was arrested on th for allegedly misappropriating ₹2.38 crore by fraudulently drawing a monthly salary far higher than that of India’s Cabinet secretary over an eight-year period, vigilance officials said.Subrat Kumar Behera, a junior assistant in the office of the chief district medical officer in Angul, was arrested by Odisha Vigilance and produced before the Special Judge, Vigilance, Angul, for possessing disproportionate assets worth 205% of his known sources of income — assets he could not satisfactorily account for.Behera has been charged with allegedly misappropriating ₹2.38 crore by drawing excess amounts towards his salary during the period from 2017 to 2025.Vigilance sleuths conducted searches at five locations connected to Behera, unearthing what officials described as a lifestyle wholly inconsistent with the income of a junior assistant. Among the assets seized or documented were a triple-storeyed building of approximately 4,500 square feet in Angul town, gold jewellery weighing around 450 grams, bank and postal deposits of nearly ₹36 lakh.Behera, who served in the lowest rung of the state government with a basic pay of around ₹19,000 to ₹22,000 per month, allegedly manipulated the government salary system to draw a basic pay ranging between ₹3.36 lakh and ₹7.36 lakh per month from 2017 to 2025, and a dearness allowance ranging between ₹9.05 lakh and ₹14.06 lakh per month between March and June 2021. In comparison, India’s Cabinet Secretary, the seniormost IAS officer in the country, draws a basic pay of ₹2.5 lakh per month.Vigilance officials conducted searches at five locations linked to Behera, unearthing what they described as a “lifestyle wholly inconsistent with the income of a junior assistant.”Among the assets seized or documented were a triple-storeyed building of around 4,500 square feet in Angul town, gold jewellery weighing about 450 grams, bank and postal deposits totalling nearly ₹36 lakh, two four-wheelers — a Skoda and a Polo GT 1.2 TSI — three two-wheelers, and household articles valued at approximately ₹17 lakh.Officials said the total disproportionate assets were calculated at 205% in excess of Behera’s legitimate known income, after accounting for all declared earnings and expenditures.“A proper inquiry is needed into how salary manipulation of this magnitude went undetected through multiple levels of treasury scrutiny, audit mechanisms and drawing and disbursing officer oversight,” a senior vigilance official said.