IAS and ORHDC Ex-MD Vinod Kumar, 6 Others Convicted In ORHDC Loan Scam

Bhubaneswar: Special Judge, Vigilance, Gyana Ranjan Mohanty on Monday convicted Vinod Kumar, IAS and former MD of Odisha Rural Housing and Development Corporation (ORHDC), and six others in connection with a money laundering case under Sections 13(2) r/w and 13(1) (d) of P.C. Act 1988 and u/s 120-B/468/471.

The other six accused who are Swosti Ranjan Mohapatra, company secretary, ORHDC, Pradeep Kumar Rout, former account officer, ORHDC, Satyaprakash Behera, junior loan officer, Jnanendra Swain, assistant system analyst, and Manoranjan Nayak, executive director, M/s Rashmi Mass Construction Pvt. Ltd, Bhubaneswar.

All the convicts have been awarded R.I. for three years and a Rs. 50,000 fine each, and in default thereof to undergo R.I. for six months on each count of the offences.

Vinod Kumar was the managing director of ORHDC from January 4, 2000, to May 15, 2001, and during his tenure, the first six convicts conspired to give a loan of Rs 21.35 lakh to M/s Rashmi Mass Construction Pvt. Ltd on fraudulent documents. The loan was sanctioned to provide residential property to individual loanees at Rashmi Villa at Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar. However, Manoranjan Nayak did not construct Rashmi Villa at Nayapalli. Instead, he used the loan to construct a three-storied building for his residential and business purposes.

During the trial, the prosecution examined 18 witnesses and proved the related documents of the case to substantiate the charges against the seven accused. Hemant Kumar, special public prosecutor, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar, conducted the prosecution of the case.