Bhubaneswar, June 7: An assistant director of the Directorate of factories and boilers, a unit of the labour department, has been accused of siphoning off money from various industrial houses in the state on the pretext of getting their employees' health check-ups done.

The state government has suspended the officer, Motilal Gouda, and ordered a probe by the crime branch. Special director general of police B.K. Sharma told The Telegraph: "A case has been lodged on the ground of forgery. The economic offences wing has started the probe."

The accused allegedly doctored a gazette notification authorising five clinics in the state to do the medical check-ups of the employees of 580 "hazardous industrial units". He had mailed the forged notification to the industrial units and had allegedly forced them to send their employees to those clinics for medical check-ups.

Gouda, who allegedly enjoyed political patronage from a powerful BJD# leader, had joined the organisation on deputation from the Employees' State Insurance Corporation in 2010. His job was to monitor the health of employees working in hazardous industries in the state. He was supposed to engage doctors registered with the state government and medical association to certify the health condition of the employees. They in turn were to send the reports to the directorate of factories and boilers.

Under the factories and boilers act, all employees are to undergo pre-employment and periodical medical check-ups. "The objective of the exercise is to keep a watch on the health of employees working in the hazardous industries. Those who fall ill due to occupational hazards are entitled to compensation from the government and the industry concerned. The medical reports are essential for this," said a senior official in the labour department. The state has nearly 4,000 industrial units and 580 of them fall in the "hazardous" category.

Official sources said that because of his political links, Gauda used to ignore his bosses and deal with the owners of the industries directly. He had told them that the health reports sent by them were not up to the mark.

Official sources said that the accused had later asked the industrial units to conduct the check-ups at particular clinics and hospitals. When some of the industrial units expressed resentment, Gouda allegedly prepared a fake gazette notification purported to be issued by the directorate of the factories and boilers authorising only five clinics in the state. He had also made it clear that the directorate would not entertain reports from any clinic other than the five that were "authorised" under the gazette.

The matter came to light when the directorate started receiving complaints from various industrial units that the "authorised" clinics were demanding exorbitant fees from them even for routine blood tests and simple X-rays.

Director, factories and boilers, P.C. Dash told The Telegraph: "We had no information till the last moment. He was doing all these things independently. He used to draft all the letters and issued the notices himself without taking the help of any other officials. We found out about his activities and brought it to the notice of the state government. Accordingly, the state government has initiated action against him."