ORHDC Scam: IAS Officer Vinod Kumar, 5 Others Convicted

Bhubaneswar: The Special Vigilance Court on Tuesday convicted senior IAS officer and former Managing Director of Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC), Vinod Kumar and five employees in connection with financial irregularities in the Corporation.

The five other convicted are 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, appeared in court on Tuesday. 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.

The Vigilance Directorate had registered a case against Kumar and the five employees of the Corporation for financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 55 lakh in 2000.

During his tenure at the Corporation in 2000-01, Kumar had allegedly unscrupulously granted loans to builders and contractors without obtaining adequate collateral security and proper scrutiny. Besides, no follow-up action was allegedly taken by the Corporation to recover the loans.

Kumar was arrested by the Vigilance Directorate in August 2011 following a NBW issued against him for allegedly evading court summons in connection with his alleged involvement in the scam.

However, he obtained bail from the High Court and was subsequently released after being lodged in the jail for more than three months.