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

Bhubaneswar: The Special Vigilance Court here on Monday awarded three years of jail term to senior IAS officer Vinod Kumar in connection with the Rs 1.02-crore Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) scam.

The IAS officer, along with six others, have been charged of misappropriating funds in the ORHDC on the pretext of providing flats to as many as 27 persons.

Earlier, Kumar was convicted of financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 55 lakh. The former managing director of ORHDC was arrested on August 10 soon after he surrendered in the court. The same day, the court had pronounced three-year jail term for Kumar and former ORHDC executive director (technical) Purna Chandra Das.

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.

Following the conviction and arrest on August 10, the IAS officer had again moved the HC. While granting him bail on August 13, the court had directed the Special Vigilance Court, Bhubaneswar, to decide its terms and conditions.