Bhubaneswar: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials conducted raid at the residence of senior Odisha IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday over an alleged bribery case related to public sector Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited.
As per preliminary information, the CBI team comprising eight personnel reached Sethi’s residence in the morning and carried out a search operation.
However, Sethi claimed innocence in the case and maintained that no FIR has so far been filed against him and he had no idea as to why the raid was being conducted.
Notably, the CBI had earlier served a notice to Sethi in connection with the case in December last year. The CBI registered case in the Rs 10 lakh bribery case also arrested four persons, including the Group General Manager of Bridge & Roof Co (India) Ltd, a Central PSU with its headquarters in Kolkata.
Those arrested by the central agency included Chanchal Mukherjee, group general manager of the Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited.
Mukherjee was arrested near a star hotel in Jayadev Vihar on December 7 evening while allegedly taking bribe from the director of Bhubaneswar-based Penta A Studio Private Ltd, Santosh Moharana, and a middle-man namely Debadutta Mohapatra.
Three days after the FIR and the arrests, CBI on December 10 sent a notice to Bishnupada Sethi to appear before the CBI Investigating Officer. The notice said, “It is learnt that you are acquainted with some important and relevant facts and circumstances of the instant CBI case, which are required to be ascertained from you”.
The drivers of the IAS Officer have already been quizzed by the CBI. It is not clear what exactly the CBI wants to ascertain from the IAS officer.
Sources said on October 19, 2024, Bisnupada Sethi, who was then the Principal Secretary of ST & SC Development Dept, had written to the CMD of Bridge & Roof Co regarding assignment of projects for upgradation of an Ashram school to High School & upgradation of High School to Higher secondary school. The two upgradation projects are worth Rs 37 crores
It is not clear whether these school upgradation projects have anything to do with the bribery case and arrests made by the CBI.
As the CBI team raided his house, Bishnupada Sethi told reporters that he has no connection with Chanchal Mukherjee, an accused in the case. “I haven’t received any favour from the Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited. Chanchal Mukherjee had unrestricted access to the State Secretariat as he had earlier worked in various departments of the state government,” he said
The senior IAS officer also alleged that he and his family members were harassed by the members of the CBI team during the raid.
After the senior IAS officer came under CBI scanner, the Odisha government shifted Sethi from the three keys positions he was assigned and placed him as officer-on-special duty (OSD) in the General Administration and Public Grievance department in December last year.
