Bhubaneswar: Odisha vigilance officials on Friday arrested two govt auditors after they were allegedly found carrying Rs 14.38 lakh in ‘ill-gotten’ cash at Baripada in Mayurbhanj district.The vigilance officials said that the accused–Prasanta Kumar Pradhan and Pragyan Prakash Patra—allegedly collected the money from authorities of several schools and hostels under the ST & SC development department for giving favourable audit reports.“The accused auditors coerced the authorities of schools and hostels to pay Rs 10 per enrolled student in exchange for submitting audit reports in their favour,” a senior vigilance official said.Pradhan and Patra are auditors in the ST & SC development, minorities & backward classes welfare department.According to a vigilance statement, the accused were intercepted late Thursday late night while returning to their hotel at Baripada from the district welfare office (DWO) in an official SUV.“Cash amounting to Rs 5,51,510 kept in 52 envelopes was found in their possession during the search,” the vigilance officer said.The officials subsequently searched their hotel rooms and recovered another Rs 8,86,830, taking the total seizure to Rs 14,38,340.Pradhan and Patra were deputed from Bhubaneswar to Baripada on Aug 30 to audit the district welfare office and institutions functioning under the ST & SC development department. Their audit covered Ashram schools, Sevashram schools, high schools, higher secondary schools and hostels.During the audit, the duo allegedly directed headmasters and institution in-charges to appear at Baripada with relevant school and hostel files and registers. Vigilance authorities subsequently received allegations that the auditors were demanding Rs 10 per enrolled student from school and hostel authorities as bribe in exchange for submitting audit reports in their favour.“Based on the allegations, we laid a trap on Thursday night. The two auditors were intercepted while they were returning from the DWO office to their hotel. The cash was recovered during the search of their vehicle and hotel rooms,” the officer said.Vigilance officials said the accused could not satisfactorily explain the source of the cash. Following the seizure, searches were also conducted at their govt quarters in Bhubaneswar and other places linked to them to ascertain whether they had amassed assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.