Suspended Odisha IAS Officer’s Wife Questions ‘Motive’ Behind His Arrest

Bhubaneswar: Tushima Mishra, wife of suspended IAS officer Bijay Ketan Upadhyaya arrested on bribery charges, on Friday raised an objection to the public prosecutor’s statement that granting him bail would send a wrong message.

“Is my husband a terrorist or a rapist that if he gets bail, it will send a bad message?” she questioned at a press meet.

On Monday, Special Judge, Vigilance Court had rejected the bail plea of suspended IAS officer Bijay Ketan Upadhyaya and sent him to 14 days of judicial custody.

Tushima claimed that allegations against her husband had been brought intentionally and he was deliberately trapped. “My husband is unnecessarily being harassed. No incriminating documents were found in our house. So on what basis did the Vigilance conduct the midnight raid and pick up my husband for questioning?” she asked.

She further alleged that Vigilance sleuths had failed to produce a search warrant when her husband asked them for it. “They also searched the house of my parents and in-laws for over 10 hours,” she said.

Tushima said that the the officials told they had instructions from the top to raid their house and ‘it was a conspiracy to fix him,’.

She refuted the allegation that private bank employee Santosh Kumar Pattanayak had accepted Rs 1 Lakh bribe on Upadhyaya’s behalf.

On the Rs 70 lakh bank deposits unearthed by the Vigilance, Tushima said that both she and her husband were working and Upadhyaya’s father and brother also deposited money into their accounts.

The IAS officer, who was serving as Director of Horticulture, was arrested on December 30 for allegedly taking bribe.