The Special Vigilance Court in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday convicted former IAS officer Vinod Kumar and five others in the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) scam and sentenced them to undergo three years of rigorous imprisonment (RI).
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on convicts, Company Secretary Swostiranjan Mohapatra, Junior Loan Officer Satyaprakash Behera, Assistant System Analyst Jnanendra Swain and Bhumika Builders Private Limited managing director Debadutta Ray and partner Bibhuti Bhusan Swain. In default they have to undergo another six months’ imprisonment.
Notably, this is the fifth consecutive conviction of Kumar in corruption cases.
The aforesaid four officers of ORHDC, Bhubaneswar had fraudulently sanctioned and disbursed loan of Rs 18.50 lakh to Bhubaneswar-based Bhumika Builders Private Limited on the basis of forged and fake documents without pre and post inspection of the site and without security.
