Bhubaneswar: Odisha vigilance on Thursday arrested a retired headmaster, his wife, and a govt clerk for their alleged involvement in the misappropriation of pension funds amounting to Rs 5.56 crore. The couple’s son, a banker, was taken into custody on Wednesday in connection with the same case.“The prime accused, Pradip Kumar Mohanty and his wife Gitarani Mohanty, had allegedly been absconding for the past two months, frequently shifting locations across Odisha and West Bengal,” a senior vigilance official said.The vigilance authorities informed the couple narrowly evaded a team in Kolkata on Wednesday before finally being tracked down to a hotel in Bhadrak district, where they were arrested in the early hours of Thursday.Alongside the couple, officials also arrested Bishnu Prasad Dash, a clerk posted at the office of the Jajpur district education officer, for his alleged complicity in the scam.Although Pradip retired as headmaster from the office of the block education officer (BEO) at Korei in Jajpur district on Aug 31, 2019, he continued to operate illegally in the accounts section until vigilance began probing the case two months ago.The vigilance investigators revealed that between Nov 2018 and Sept 2024, Pradip exploited the office’s online human resource management system to steal pension details of 13 retired teachers. While genuine pensioners received their dues, Pradip allegedly prepared duplicate bills in their names through forgery and routed them to the treasury. The siphoned funds were then transferred to accounts belonging to Pradip, his wife, and their son Matruprasad Mohanty.
