Senior IAS officer in vigilance net

Bhubaneswar, Sep 23 (UNI) Senior IAS officer Vinod Kumar, who has been sentenced to jail in a vigilance case, was allegedly abusing his official position and entering into a criminal conspiracy with two private builders.

The former Managing Director of the Orissa Rural Housing Development Corporation(ORHDC) along with other officials of the Corporation had allegedly sanctioned and disbursed huge loan to two private builders in violation of all norms.

The Vigilance sources said M/S City Builders Proprietor Lingaraj Patra and M/S Ecstasy Builders Proprietor Sangram Keshari Sahu of Bhubaneswar were allegedly sanctioned loan amounting to Rs.26.20 lakhs and Rs.52.95 lakh respectively during the year 2000-01 violating the norms of business of the Corporation.

Besides Mr Kumar, ORHDC Accounts Officer Pradeep Kumar Rout, company secretary Swosti Ranjan Mohapatra, Assistant System Analyst Jnanendra Swain, Junior Loan officer SatyaPrakash Behera, Recovery Assistant Umesh Chandra Swain and Cashier-cum-Accountant Chita Ranjan Mallick have been allegedly abusing their official position as public servants in sanctioning the loan amount.

Although the major chunk of loans incurred by ORHDC from HUDCO was to meet the shelter needs of the people affected by Super Cyclone in 1999 the officials had ''deliberately flouted'' the norms of the Corporation and ''fraudulently'' sanctioned and disbursed loans in favour of the Builders of urban areas, Vigilance sources said.

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