‘Dismissed’ Odisha IAS officer Vinod Kumar convicted for 12th time

The Bhubaneswar Special Judge Vigilance court on Friday convicted former Odisha cadre IAS officer Vinod Kumar, besides six others, on corruption charges and sentenced them to undergo three-year rigorous imprisonment.

It is pertinent to note here that this is the 12th conviction involving corruption in Orissa Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) by Vinod Kumar, who has, meanwhile, been dismissed from service after he was found guilty of hatching criminal conspiracy with government functionaries and private persons to embezzle government funds.

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“Vinod Kumar, IAS, Former Managing Director, Orissa Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC), Bhubaneswar, Swosti Ranjan Mohapatra, Ex-Company Secretary, Pradeep Kumar Rout, ExAccounts Officer, Satya Prakash Behera, Ex-Junior Loan Officer, Janendra Swain, Ex-System Analyst, Umesh Chandra Swain, Ex-Recovery Assistant, all of ORHDC, Bhubaneswar and Samgram Keshari Sahoo, Proprietor of M/S-Ecstasy Builders & Developers Pvt. Ltd, Bhubaneswar, who were charge sheeted by Odisha Vigilance in a case U/s 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) PC Act,1988/ 468/471/420/120-B IPC for misappropriation of Govt. funds (ORHDC) to the tune of Rs.52,95,000 by diverting funds meant for the rural poor people were convicted by Court”, said prosecution counsels Salila Kumar Pradhan and Biswaranjan Rout.

The six convicted officials had abused their official power and shown undue favour to the private builder Sangram Keshari Sahoo by creating fake and forged documents. Hence, all the erring officials and the private builder were convicted by Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar. The Court sentenced each convict to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 3 years each and fine, they added.

It may be recalled here that 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.