HC Extends Interim Protection For Odisha IAS Officer Under CBI Lens In Bribery Case

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has extended its interim order preventing any “coercive action” against senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) till March 18.

The protection has granted in connection his alleged link with a senior officer of a central PSU who was arrested in a Rs 10-lakh bribery case in December last year.

Following a CBI raid at his residence on February 18, Sethi, along with his wife and daughter, filed a petition on February 24 seeking the HC’s intervention, alleging mental harassment by the officers of the central agency.

On February 25, the bench of Justice S K Panigrahi granted him interim protection as CBI’s counsel sought time to file a reply and listed the matter for March 4.

When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, the CBI filed a reply affidavit, following which the court granted time for the petitioners to file a rejoinder and scheduled the next hearing for March 18, while extending the interim protection for Sethi.

In the petition, Sethi claimed that though Bridge and Roof Company (India) Ltd, a central public sector undertaking headquartered in Kolkata, has been working for the government for the past 10 years, he has no links with the company. He further stated that his house was searched by the CBI even though he was not named in the FIR. While his daughter’s laptop was seized during the raid, the bank account of his wife has since been seized, he added.

On December 8, the CBI officials arrested Chanchal Mukherjee, the group general manager of the PSU, on charges of taking ₹10 lakh bribe from a real estate company promising them work orders. Mukherjee was caught taking the bribe money from the owner of a real estate firmin front of a hotel in Bhubaneswar.

Sethi’s name came up during Mukherjee’s interrogation, sources said.

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 was also quizzed by the CBI.

Sources said on October 19, 2024, Sethi, who was then the Principal Secretary of ST & SC Development Dept, had written to the CMD of of the PSU, regarding upgradation of an Ashram school to high school & a high school to higher secondary school worth Rs 37 crore.

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It is not clear whether these projects have anything to do with the bribery case and arrests made by the CBI.