Bribery Case: Another Conduit Of Suspended Odisha IAS Officer Arrested

Bhubaneswar:  Vigilance sleuths on Tuesday arrested MIS Executive Officer of Horticulture Directorate, Pitabas Pradhan, for his alleged complicity in the bribery case against suspended IAS officer Bijay Ketan Upadhyaya.

He was produced in the court of Special Vigilance Judge and remanded to judicial custody.

According to vigilance release Pradhan along with Santosh Kumar Pattnayak of YES bank acted as conduit for Upadhyaya and accepted Rs 1 lakh bribe from SRM Plastochem Pvt Ltd for processing a bill under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana.

Pradhan was working in the Engineering Section where bills for payment to suppliers and dealers were processed. The tainted officer allegedly had instructed him to coordinated with suppliers and dealers for payment of part of the payment as illegal gratification to their accounts, in the presence of Pattanayak, the release said.

Accordingly, Pradhan kept track of the bills and asked suppliers and dealers to contact Pattanayak and pay part of the payment released as bribe, it added.

The 2009-batch IAS officer, who was serving as Director of Horticulture, was arrested on December 30 for allegedly taking bribe. Pattanayak was later arrested for accepting the bribe money on his behalf. They are now lodged in Jharpara Special Jail.