Bhubaneswar, Aug 10: The Odisha government on Saturday suspended senior OAS officer Akshyamita Kartik days after she was arrested by Vigilance department following the seizure of Rs 5 lakh unaccounted cash from her official vehicle.

The accused woman officer was posted as Block Development Officer (BDO) of Golamunda Block in Kalahandi district.

On August 1, the Vigilance officials intercepted OAS officer Akhyamita while she was travelling from Bhawanipatna to Koraput on her official SUV (Mahindra Bolero) and seized unaccounted money worth around Rs 5 lakh from the vehicle.
During interrogation, the OAS officer could not satisfactorily account for the seized money following which she was arrested, Vigilance officials had said.

According to the Vigilance department, accused Akhyamita had cleverly concealed the cash inside the rear door of her official  Bolero vehicle to evade detection. However, based on their training and protocols of conduct of searches, the Vigilance team managed to unearth the cash by opening the interior of the rear door of the vehicle.

In this connection, Koraput Vigilance Division registered a case under section U/s13(2), (1)(b) PC (Amendment) Act, 2018 against the accused official.

Earlier in 2018, Akhyamita had allegedly misappropriated Red Cross funds when she was posted as Tehsildar of Gunpur in Rayagada district and the district administration filed a police complaint against her in this regard.

In 2020, Akhyamita was suspended for misappropriation of Covid funds while she was posted as BDO of Kosagumuda block in Nabarangpur district.

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