Bhubaneswar, July 23: Vigilance sleuths today arrested Manipur-Tripura cadre IPS officer Joydeep Nayak from Ghaziabad in connection with misappropriation of funds worth Rs 88 lakh meant for a skill development programme for SC and ST students.

On June 22, the vigilance directorate registered a case of graft against Nayak and five others, including an officer of the rank of additional superintendent of police. While the vigilance had arrested all the accused earlier last month, Nayak was on the run.

Sources said that in June, Nayak had undergone a ligament surgery on his left leg at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi. He was discharged from the hospital on June 22 and had been on the run since then. "We are bringing Nayak on a four-day transit remand after the Ghaziabad chief judicial magistrate granted it," said vigilance director R.P. Sharma.

Nayak, a 1991-batch IPS officer, had been on deputation in the state since 2011. The officer got involved in the scam when he was posted as the inspector general of police in the SC/ST protection cell of the state. Sources said other scams might also come to light after his interrogation.

According to the vigilance officials' version, Nayak had proposed a computer literacy programme for the SC/ST students in October last year. The SC/ST development department approved the proposal in December and an amount of Rs 88 lakh was sanctioned for the purpose.

Later, the amount was transferred to the account of Cuttack's Axis Computers, which was chosen to execute the programme. Sources said the organisation did not have the expertise to train 6,000 students. Nayak had allegedly awarded the contract to the organisation arbitrarily without floating any tender.

The Tripura government, with whom Nayak was posted as director in the fire directorate, suspended him on July 6 for breaching service rules. Sources said Nayak was later transferred as officer on special duty to State Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development in Tripura.

Others arrested in the case was the then DSP of the SC/ST cell, Basanta Kumar Pradhan, the then steno of the cell, Pracheta Kumar Mishra, Axis Computer proprietor Ashutosh Mishra, Axis Computer general manager Chandi Charan Patnaik and proprietor of the printing press Mamata Rout.