ORHDC Scam: HC Grants Interim Relief To IAS Officer Binod Kumar, 3 Others

Cuttack: Senior IAS officer Binod Kumar heaved a sigh of relief as the Orissa High Court on Tuesday directed the police not to arrest him on the directive of the lower court till further orders.

The court posted the final hearing in the matter for July 19.

The Vigilance Directorate had registered a case against Binod Kumar, former Managing Director of Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC), and five other employees of the corporation 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.

Hearing the case, the Special Vigilance Court on July 3 this year had convicted Kumar and five employees in connection with the financial irregularities.

The five others convicted by the court were Sanjay Mohanty, Purna Chandra Das, Pradip Kumar Rout, Chitta Ranjan Mohanty and Ashish Kumar Nayak.

Of the six, only Sanjay Mohanty, Assistant Manager of the corporation had appeared in the court. The court later issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against the five absentees including Kumar, who is now posted as officer on special duty (OSD) in the Higher Education Department.

A day after the court’s order, the Vigilance officials had gone to Kumar’s official residence in Nayapalli area of Bhubaneswar on July 5. But they could not find him as the house was locked.

The following day, the anti-corruption officials again raided his residence and seized some documents. But the IAS officer had remained untraceable.

Of the five convicts against whom the court had issued NBW, three employees Purna Chandra Das, Chittaranjan Malik and Pradip Rout had moved the High Court challenging the order of the lower court. The High Court, after hearing their plea, had granted them the interim relief. Later, Kumar had also moved the High Court with a similar plea.