The Special Vigilance Court here on Monday convicted senior IAS officer and former Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) Managing Director Vinod Kumar and sentenced him to three years in jail in connection with the Rs 1.02 crore ORHDC scam.
Kumar along with six others had been charged of embezzling Rs 1.02crore from the ORHDC on the pretext of giving flats to as many as 27 people. However, the then Accounts Officer Chitta Ranjan Mallick was acquitted by the court.
Kumar, who was ORHDC MD during 2001, Biswal Constructions director Bijay Biswal and five other officials of the corporation have been accused of furnishing fake certificates and abuse of power and faced trial.
Recently, Kumar along with the then ORHDC Executive Director (Technical) Purna Chandra Das, Assistant Manager Sanjay Mohanty, Accounts Officer Pradip Rout, Accountant Chitta Mallick and NGO Gramya Bikash Manch secretary Asish Das were convicted by the court under section 13 (2), 13(1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and section 420 and 120 of IPC in connection with financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 55 lakh in the corporation in 2000. They were each awarded three-year jail term.
As many as 22 financial irregularities and disproportionate asset cases are pending against Kumar.