BHUBANESWAR: Senior IAS officer and former managing director of Odisha Rural Housing and Development Corporation (ORHDC) Vinod Kumar was convicted in a corruption case and sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) by a Vigilance court on Monday.
The court also awarded three-year RI to former accounts officer of ORHDC Pradeep Kumar Rout, former company secretary Swosti Ranjan Mohapatra, former assistant system analyst Jnanendra Swain, former junior officer (loan) Satya Prakash Behera and managing director of Biswal Construction Private limited Bijay Kumar Biswal. However, all the accused, including Kumar, were later released on bail.
The IAS officer was sent to jail on August 10 after a warrant was issued against him in a similar corruption case. If he had appeared before the court then, he could have got bail without much delay, sources said.
The Special Vigilance Judge, Bhubaneswar convicted the IAS officer and former ORHDC officials after they were found guilty of showing undue official favour, committing criminal misconduct, forgery, cheating and conspiracy and giving pecuniary advantage to builder Biswal by releasing funds under the guise of 27 individual loans meant for the rural poor in an arbitrary manner and without following the guidelines.
The court also imposed a fine of `50,000 on each convicted ORHDC official and in case of default, they will have to undergo RI of another six months.