Bhubaneswar: Days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (SBI) issued summons to senior IAS officer of Odisha Bishnupada Sethi as part of its probe into a bribery case, questions are now being raised whether the senior bureaucrat met the executives of a Central PSU.
The senior IAS officer, who was summoned by the CBI to its office in Bhubaneswar, is yet to appear before the central probe agency.
Meanwhile, CBI Joint Director arrived in Bhubaneswar amid row over the central agency’s summons to Sethi in a Rs ten lakh bribery case
As per information, it has come to light that a request had been made by top officials of Bridge & Roof Company for a meeting with Sethi, who is the Principal Secretary of the ST & SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Department in Odisha.
The request letter from the company officials has raised serious questions about any possible role of the senior bureaucrat in the Rs ten lakh bribery case.
Sources said an appointment had been sought with the Principal Secretary for a meeting on December 5 and it is not clear whether Sethi met Chanchal Kumar Mukherjee, the General Manager of Bridge and Roof Company in Odisha.
The purported letter showed Chanchal Mukherjee had made a request to meet Sethi on December 5, two days before a raid was conducted by the CBI on December 7 when Rs ten lakh was seized by the probe agency outside a star hotel in Bhubaneswar. The CBI subsequently arrested three persons in connection with the alleged bribery.
The sequence of the events raised questions about the nature of the proposed meeting and whether it took place.
So far, there has been no evidence to show that Sethi met Chanchal Mukherjee.
It may be noted that on October 19, Bishnupada Sethi had approved a contract awarding up-gradation works of Aashram Schools and High Schools to Bridge and Roof Company. The timeline of events continues to raise eyebrows as authorities delve deeper into the matter.
