Bhubaneswar, May 19: A former Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer has filed a case in a vigilance court accusing a former director-general of police and three others, including two retired police officers, of amassing wealth through corrupt means.
The complainant, Syed Nayyar Ahmed, who retired as a special secretary after serving as an OAS officer for 30 years, said in his petition submitted in the court of the additional district judge-cum-special judge (vigilance), Bhubaneswar, that former DGP Gopal Chandra Nanda had amassed assets worth around Rs 20 crore, though his earnings through his known sources of income were only worth Rs 75 lakh during the service period.
Ahmed’s counsel Atma Prasad Mohanty said the court had admitted the case. “It has fixed May 28 as the date of hearing,” said Mohanty.
The complainant also has brought charges against Krupasindhu Balabantaray, a former deputy superintendent of police, vigilance, and Debadutta Pattnaik, who retired as additional superintendent of police, vigilance. The complainant has also brought charges against a person called Brajakishore Mishra.
According to the complaint, Nanda had acquired a residential plot from the government in Nayapalli area on lease and built a house spending Rs 25 lakh during the first 11 years of his service when his total earnings were Rs 3.50 lakh.
Ahmed alleged that in 1994, Nanda bought land in Puri worth nearly Rs 15 lakh and later, between 1995 and 1998, he bought an HIG house at Chandrasekharpur from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority by concealing information about the government plot he already possessed.
The complainant also alleged that Nanda had later purchased land at Chandrasekharpur and Jayadev Vihar apart from his native village, Biragobindapur. He alleged that the former DGP had built a palatial house in Cuttack worth around Rs 1.50 crore and is believed to possess properties in Noida and New Delhi.
The petitioner said former DSP vigilance Krupasindhu Balabantaray possessed houses at VSS Nagar and Vivekanand Marg in Bhubaneswar and Sukinda. The cost of these houses was around Rs 90 lakh. He alleged Debadutta Pattnaik owned a big house in Berhampur and another house in Bhubaneswar. His alleged that Patnaik’s properties were worth more than Rs 3 crore.
Nanda denied the charges saying that the allegations were false. “An IAS officer who had been arrested in the past is using the complainant to bring such allegations to harass us. Some of the properties mentioned do not belong to me,” said Nanda. He wondered why these allegations were being brought up after his retirement from service.
However, the complainant’s advocate said that it was not easy to gather all the information about these public servants during their service period. “So, my client took time to gather evidence,” he said. The two other officials, however, said they were not aware of case and hence could not comment on it.
On Saturday, the court of special judge, vigilance, will record the statement of witnesses in another corruption case. A former excise superintendent had accused six IAS officers and an OAS officer of causing a loss of more than Rs 27 crore to the Odisha State Beverages Corporation between 2001 and 2005. The court on May 8 had recorded the statement of the complainant.
