Odisha's vigilance department achieve 47% conviction in 575 criminal cases

Claiming to have achieved 47 per cent conviction rate while dealing with corruption cases in 2016, Odisha's vigilance department has registered 575 criminal cases against 1099 accused persons.

This includes 162 Class-I officers, 104 Class-II officers, 833 Class-III employees and others, an official statement said.

During this period, 334 persons had been arrested, which includes 36 Class-I officers, 30 Class-II officers, 268 Class-III employees and others.

Out of these 575 cases, 119 cases have been instituted for possession of disproportionate assets amounting to Rs 115.52 crore by 127 public servants and 50 individuals.

Similarly, 233 trap cases have been instituted against 248 public servants and seven individuals for allegedly accepting illegal gratification from complainants amounting to Rs 33.22 lakh.

Out of 119 Disproportionate Assets (DA) cases, in 35 DA cases, the amount of disproportionate assets, as per FIR, is more than Rs one Crore, an official statement said.

The State Vigilance also registered this year 74 cases relating to allotment of plots by the BDA, CDA and Housing Board, which are under investigation.

The Vigilance Department has initiated confiscation proceedings of disproportionate assets in 14 cases.

The Sales Tax Wing of the Vigilance department has detected 48 tax Evasion Cases and collected Rs 2036.02 lakhs as tax and penalty.

Similarly, the Forest Wing of Vigilance has conducted 110 joint raids and seized illegal timber and other forest produces worth Rs 2.86 crore.