The Odisha Vigilance has unearthed gold jewellery and biscuits worth Rs 64 lakh from two lockers of a commercial tax andGST officer of the enforcement unit of the Odisha government.

The officer has been identified as Chittaranjan Mohanty. He was posted at Paradip.

Bank and insurance deposits and investments worth over Rs 1.04 crore in the name of Mohanty and his family members have also been unearthed.

“CT (commercial tax) and GST (goods and services tax) officials are responsible for collecting commercial tax and goods and services tax. But sometimes a few of them target innocent and honest businessmen on charges of evading GST.

“Later, they impose a hefty fine on them and a compromise is made to reduce the GST. This is the modus operandi. Acting on a tip-off, we were tracking the movement of Mohanty,” a vigilance official said.

“Mohanty was trapped by the Odisha Vigilance on March 31 for accepting abribe of Rs 80,000 from acomplainant to furnish aclosure report of the CT and GST case instituted against him. Following the trap, simultaneous house searches are going on for disproportionate assets ((acquisition of properties disproportionate to the known source of income),” a press release issued by the state vigilance said.

It added: “Gold jewellery of 1.060kg, including 19gold biscuits of 24 carats weighing 433gm (marketprice of 19 gold biscuits is around Rs 26 lakh) wasrecovered from two lockersof Mohanty and his spouse.

“Total gold weighing 1.135kg, including 1.060kggold jewellery from thetwo lockers worth Rs 64lakh have also been unearthed.”

Rs 6.59 lakh in cash has also been recovered from Mohanty’s almirah.

Mohanty has been remanded in jail custody till April 13.