Vigilance to rope in handwriting experts to crack crypto net

BHUBANESWAR: The Vigilance department probing the alleged accumulation of disproportionate assets by senior engineer Nihar Ranjan Das is likely to take assistance of handwriting experts to tighten the case against him.

Sources said Das, who retired as additional chief engineer (planning, monitoring, design and investigation) in Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Bhubaneswar circle on October 31, has so far not cooperated with the agency’s officers during his questioning after he was arrested on October 29, for amassing disproportionate assets to the tune of about Rs 5 crore.

Das has reportedly not revealed anything to the Vigilance officers regarding his alleged investments in crypto currencies and has maintained that he has ‘no’ knowledge about it. He had reportedly flung a diary from the window of his house here during a raid on October 28.

In the diary, Das has mentioned about most of the wallets and crypto exchanges through which he purchased the digital currency. “The diary along with a note/document having his handwriting will be sent to experts for examination,” said Vigilance sources, adding that if the handwriting in the sample and the diary matches then it will be a crucial piece of evidence against him.

A three-member team from Mumbai is already assisting the agency officers to ascertain the investments made by Das in crypto currencies. The agency had earlier traced 38 crypto wallets reportedly opened by Das and stumbled upon 50 more crypto wallets during further investigation taking the total investments in digital currency by him to about Rs 2 crore.

Das was brought on two-day police remand from Thursday for further questioning in connection with the case. “Das is being questioned by a special investigation team comprising of financial and technical experts. The bank transactions of Das and his family members are being examined and further probe is on,” said Vigilance sources.