The Bhubaneswar Special Judge Vigilance court on Monday convicted former Odisha cadre IAS officer Vinod Kumar besides five others on corruption charges and sentenced them to undergo 3-year rigorous imprisonment.
All the sentences are to run concurrently. This is the sixth consecutive conviction of Kumar in corruption cases, vigilance directorate said in a statement.
“Vinod Kumar, former IAS officer and ex-Managing Director, Orissa Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC), Swasti Ranjan Mohapatra, ex-Company Secretary, ORHDC, Pradip Rout, ex-Accounts officer, Satyaprakash Behera, Junior Loan Officer, ORHDC, Bhubaneswar, Jnanendra Swain, Assistant System Analyst, ORHDC and Manoranjan Nayak of Rashmi Mass Construction Private Limited, Bhubaneswar were sentenced to three-year rigorous imprisonment by Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar”, the statement said.
The convicted officers of ORHDC, Bhubaneswar had entered into criminal conspiracy with Manoranjan Nayak of Rashmi Mass Construction Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar by abusing their official position, dishonestly sanctioned house building loans in the names of six individuals and disbursed Rs.21,35,000 to M/s Rashmi Mass Construction Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar.
In February, 2022, the 1989-batch IAS officer was dismissed from service after the Centre approved the state government’s proposal to give him compulsory retirement. Kumar was accused of resorting to unfair means to sanction funds as the managing director of the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation after the Super Cyclone hit the coastal state in 1999.