Bhubaneswar, Oct 10 (IANS): In a major action against corruption, Odisha vigilance has arrested three class-I government officers for possessing unaccounted cash, a vigilance official said on Sunday.

The officers are -- Bidhan Chandra Sahu, superintending engineer, Irrigation Baitarani Division, Salapada; Prakash Kumar Mohapatra, regional officer, State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), Rourkela and Narottam Behera, another regional officer of the SPCB, Balasore.

Over Rs 10.71 lakh was seized from Sahu, Rs 1.75 lakh from Mohapatra and Rs 10.14 lakh from Behera, said vigilance SP Akshay Kumar Mishra.

According to the SP, Rs 89,290 cash was recovered from Narottam Behera while he was on the way to Bhubaneswar in his vehicle. Following this, the anti-corruption officials raided his house on Sunday and recovered cash worth Rs 9.25 lakh.

The vigilance officials in Bhubaneswar also seized Rs 1.75 lakh while searching the vehicle of Mohapatra as he was returning to the capital city from Rourkela on Saturday evening, he said.

Apart from these two pollution control officials, Rs 10.07 lakh was found in Sahu's vehicle while he was on his way to his residence in Cuttack. Following the recovery of cash, the vigilance officials raided Sahu's residence late in the evening and recovered cash of Rs 64,000.

Three different cases have been registered against the three officials and all have been arrested, he said.

Mishra informed that further house search operation is going on. If required, the officials will be brought on remand for further investigation into the cases, he added.