Rights campaigner Pradip Pradhan on Tuesday filed a complaint at the CBI Bhubaneswar seeking a probe into the functioning of the Odisha Knowledge Corporation limited (OKCl), which was set up to spread IT literacy in the State.
On Monday, the local Special CBI Court while hearing a petition filed by Pradhan had asked him to file a complaint to the Bhubaneswar CBI SP.
Pradhan, along with lawyer Srinibas Mohanty and activists Sudhir Mohanty, Sachikanta Pradhan and Pratap Sahu met CBI officials and lodged an FIR against former Chief Secretary Bijay Patnaik, former Higher Education Secretary CS Kumar, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation ltd (MKCl) Director and CEO Vivek Sawant and many others holding them responsible for the Rs200-crore scam.
It was alleged that huge funds have been siphoned off by top OKCl officials.
Pradhan alleged, "The OKCl is chaired by the Chief Secretary while top officials of the Higher Education Department are members of its managing committee. Ironically, the State Government in response to an RTI query informed that the OKCl is a private body. Why did the Government issue Gazette notification regarding its formation if it is a private organisation, he asked."
He said it clearly exposed the real intention of the officials.
He further alleged that though the State Institute of Educational Technology was the nodal agency for spreading education using the medium of information communication and technology but the Government founded the OKCl for obvious reasons by shutting down the SIET only to loot Central Government funds allocated to it.