ORHDC Scam: IAS Officer Vinod Kumar Gets 3-Year Jail Term

Bhubaneswar: The Special Vigilance Court, Bhubaneswar, on Friday sentenced senior IAS officer Vinod Kumar to three years in jail for his complicity in financial irregularities in the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC).

Kumar was arrested soon after he surrendered in the court earlier in the day.

Along with Kumar, the court also awarded the same quantum of punishment to former ORHDC executive director (technical) Purna Chandra Das.

Though Kumar and Das later applied for bail in the Orissa High Court, they were asked to file a fresh plea on Monday. They will be lodged in jail till the hearing of their petitions.

On the other hand, the High Court granted bail to three other employees of the Corporation Chitta Mallick, Pradip Rout and Asish Kumar Nayak.

Notably, the Vigilance Directorate had registered a case against Kumar and five other employees of the Corporation— Sanjay Mohanty, Purna Chandra Das, Pradip Kumar Rout, Chitta Ranjan Mohanty and Ashish Kumar Nayak— in 2000 for their alleged involvement in financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 55 lakh in the construction of cyclone shelters after the Super Cyclone in October 1999.

Of the six, assistant manager Sanjay Mohanty had appeared in the court, which later issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against the four absentees and Kumar, now posted as officer on special duty (OSD) in the Higher Education Department.

Of the five employees against whom the court had issued NBW, three employees Purna Chandra Das, Chittaranjan Malik and Pradip Rout moved the High Court challenging the order of the lower court.

The High Court, after hearing their plea, had granted them the interim relief on July 8.

Later, Kumar moved the High Court on July 10 with a similar plea and got the interim relief from the court, which had directed the police not to arrest him till further orders.

On July 26, the High Court rejected the bail plea of Kumar and directed him to surrender before the Special Vigilance Court on August 4.