OAS Officer Given Compulsory Retirement

Bhubaneswar, June 27: Days after the vigilance department conducted raids on his premises and confiscated more than Rs 3 crore in cash, the Odisha Government has given compulsory retirement to the additional sub-collector of Nabarangpur district Prashant Rout.

Rout had joined the government service as an OAS officer in July 1996 and had served as Tahasildar in several districts and BDO of Jajpur. 

On June 23, the Vigilance sleuths seized Rs 3 crore in the denomination of Rs 500 currency notes from his residence at Kanan Vihar here and from Nabarangpur. Besides, bank and insurance deposits of Rs 42 lakh, gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 37 lakh and movable properties were also seized during the raid. 

The vigilance sleuths had also carried out searches simultaneously at nine different locations including his ancestral house in Bhadrakh after getting allegations of accumulation of assets disproportionate to his known source of income.  The quantum of the notes recovered led the vigilance team to engage the money-counting machine.

Interestingly, In November 2018, Rout was placed under suspension in a bribe case but was reinstated after one year.