IAS officer surrenders, gets 3 years in jail for ORHDC scam

BHUBANESWAR: Senior IAS officer Vinod Kumar surrendered to a vigilance court here on Friday afternoon, and was awarded a three-year jail-term in connection with the 2001 Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) scam.

Fifty-four-year-old Kumar, a 1989-batch IAS officer, was accused of sanctioning a fraudulent loan of nearly Rs 55 lakh to an NGO called Gramya Bikash Manch during his tenure as managing director of the ORHDC in 2001. Kumar, who currently holds the post of officer-on-special duty in the state's higher education department, allegedly availed himself of financial benefits from the NGO in exchange for securing the loan for them.

On July 3, the vigilance court had convicted six people, including Kumar, in connection with the scam. However, sentencing was put on hold against five of them, including Kumar, because of their absence in court during the conviction. Only one convict - Sanjay Mohanty who was the assistant manager of ORHDC - had been present in court. Mohanty was sentenced to three years of imprisonment.

The vigilance court, on July 3 itself, had issued non-bailable warrants against Kumar and four others - ORHDC's former executive director Purna Chandra Das, ORHDC former accounts officer Pradeep Kumar Rout, ORHDC ex-accountant Chittaranjan Mallick and secretary of Gramya Bikas Mancha Asish Kumar Nayak. All five had moved Orissa high court on different dates, challenging the vigilance court's conviction order and the subsequent non-bailable warrants.