All about Baikuntha Nath Behera, Odisha assistant engineer at the centre of a ₹2 crore cash haul

Odisha Vigilance officials have uncovered ₹2.04 crore in cash, five multi-storey buildings, 13 high-value plots, 341 grams of gold jewellery and bank deposits worth around ₹45 lakh during searches linked to Baikuntha Nath Behera, an Assistant Executive Engineer with the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) in Baliguda, Kandhamal. The searches were conducted at nine locations across Odisha as part of a disproportionate assets probe.

Who is Baikuntha Nath Behera?

Baikuntha Nath Behera, 52, is a government civil engineer who is currently posted as an Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) at ITDA, Baliguda in Kandhamal district. He has spent more than two decades in government service, having joined as a Junior Engineer (Civil) in 1999.

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According to Vigilance records, Behera joined government service on August 16, 1999, at Nabarangpur with a monthly salary of around ₹6,000. Over the years, he served at different government establishments, including locations in Nabarangpur and Udala.

From junior engineer to assistant executive engineer

Behera's career progressed through the state engineering hierarchy. He was promoted to Assistant Engineer in October 2016 and was posted at ITDA, Nabarangpur.

He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Assistant Executive Engineer in February 2026 and posted to ITDA, Baliguda, where he was serving when the Vigilance searches were conducted.

What did Vigilance find?

The searches reportedly uncovered five multi-storey buildings, including four in prime locations of Bhubaneswar. One of the properties is a four-storey building spread across about 10,500 sq ft in Niladri Vihar. Other properties were detected in Sailashree Vihar, Kanan Vihar, Chandrasekharpur and Dharmasala in Jajpur.

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Investigators also traced 13 plots, seven of them in Bhubaneswar, five in Dharmasala and one in Baripada. Around 341 grams of gold jewellery and bank deposits of more than ₹45 lakh were also detected.

Vigilance probe underway

The properties and assets are still being assessed by the Vigilance technical wing. Officials are verifying property documents, bank records and the source of the assets to determine their exact value and whether they are disproportionate to Behera's known sources of income.