Bhubaneswar: The Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar on Thursday convicted Vinod Kumar in the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) scam and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for three years.
The court also convicted former Company Secretary of ORHDC Swasti Ranjan Mohapatra, former accounts officer Pradeep Kumar Rout, ex-junior loan officer Satyaprakash Behera and ex-assistant system analyst Jnanendra Swain under different Sections of the IPC.
They were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment (RI) for three years and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000. On non-payment of fine, the court ordered them to undergo RI for six more months. All the convicts had fraudulently determined loan eligibility and diverted the money to builder Sitara Buildcon Pvt Ltd.
This is the eighth time that Kumar, former managing directorate of ORHDC, has been convicted. The Odisha government had dismissed the Odisha cadre IAS officer from service following the corruption cases against him in February, 2022.
Kumar was accused of unfair sanction of funds meant for reconstruction of houses damaged in the Super Cyclone in 1999. He was suspended in 2001 when the corruption case came to light and later reinstated. In 2018, a Special Vigilance Court convicted him for financial irregularities involving Rs 1.02 crore in the housing scam.
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