As the race for the post of CBI Director hots up in New Delhi, the Odisha Vigilance department has issued summons to former State DGP Prakash Mishra asking him to appear before it on December 4 in connection with the case against him for alleged irregularities during the period he was the CMD of Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OPHWC).
Mishra has been summoned to appear before DSP M Radhakrsihna at the Vigilance Directorate in Cuttack at 11 am on December 4, official sources said. The summons has been served to Mishra through Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami.
On September 20, days after he went on Central deputation to Delhi despite desperate efforts by the State Government to block his way, the Bhubaneswar Vigilance Division registered a case against Mishra under Sections 13(2) and 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Sections 409 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code alleging that he had made advance payment of Rs 59 crore to some steel and cement suppliers in 2009 in violation of existing rules.
Mishra, a 1977-batch IPS officer who is presently posted as the Special Secretary, Internal Security, Government of India, was the CMD of OPHWC between 2006 and 2009 in the rank of Additional DGP.
Mishra filed a petition in the Odisha High Court accusing the State Government of mala fide and seeking quashing of the FIR against him. The State Government’s move was designed to prevent him from becoming CBI Director, Mishra has alleged in his petition.
In statements given the media after the State Government’s move, Mishra had hit back accusing the Naveen Patnaik Government of “vendetta” and wondering how the Government had made him the DGP in 2012 if there were such serious allegations against him.
The Government’s move had met with widespread condemnation and was seen as a move to scuttle his prospects as the next CBI chief.
Sources said the Vigilance move to ask Mishra to appear before it is only a pretext to get him to Odisha and arrest him in connection with a new case that has been planned by a small group of IPS officers “loyal to the throne”.
A senior IPS officer known to have been a close aide of the Chief Minister has been entrusted with the task of preparing the grounds to arrest Mishra and ensure he is out of reckoning for the post of CBI Director.
The sources said a Delhi-based senior IPS officer, who is also an aspirant for the top CBI post, is reportedly part of the design to scuttle Mishra’s chances of occupying the chair and has been in close touch with his “friends” in the Odisha IPS circle.
“The Vigilance slapped a case even without questioning Mishra in the matter. Now the High Court has already taken up the petition filed by him and the Vigilance has so far failed to produce the documents and papers to substantiate its charges before the court. In fact, the Vigilance has been seeking more time to do so. Therefore, issuing summons to Mishra for his personal appearance at this stage in connection with the same case does not make sense and smacks of mala fide,” a senior High Court lawyer commented.
The timing of the summons strengthens suspicion that the Vigilance move is prompted by mala fide. Msihra, it may be noted, has been summoned to appear before the vigilance on December 4, five days before the next date of hearing in the case in the High Court.
The High Court has already restrained the State Government from taking any “coercive action” against Mishra and ruled that the Vigilance case would not affect his promotion.
The Vigilance move is also conceived as a panic action on the State Government’s part as Mishra, if appointed CBI Director, might prove lethal for it in view of the ongoing CBI investigation into the chit fund scam and a likely CBI probe into the State’s mining scam in near future.