Former Odisha Minister Dilip Ray Graft Case: Court Nod For Framing Charges

Bhubaneswar: A special Vigilance court here on Saturday turned down a discharge petition filed by former minister Dilip Ray in a disproportionate assets case.

The court rejected the discharge petition in a speaking order of 33 pages, informed public prosecutor Ajit Kumar Patnaik. The court ordered framing of charges against Ray on March 15 and asked him to appear before it personally on the day.

S Rajsekhar, designated senior advocate of the Supreme Court, appeared for Ray.

The case dates back to 1996, when the Congress government was in power. Ray was a cabinet minister from 1990 to 1995 when Biju Patnaik was Chief Minister. The Vigilance office in Cuttack had registered a case accusing Ray of having wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The former MLA of Rourkela was found in possession of multiple plots, a chain of hotels and several bank accounts, among other assets. The Vigilance had estimated the disproportionate assets at Rs 3.88 crore at the time.

In October 2020, Ray, a former Union Minister, was sentenced to three-year imprisonment by a Delhi court in a coal scam. The court convicted him for irregularities in allocation of a coal block in Jharkhand in 1999.