Bhubaneswar: An anti-corruption vigilance court in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district Thursday convicted a former collector and two others in a corruption case and sentenced them to one year of rigorous imprisonment and imposed fines, an official said.
The convicted persons were identified as Nityananda Mohanty, IAS, former collector of Dhenkanal (retired); Suryanarayan Das, former project director, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Dhenkanal (retired); and Satyananda Balasamanta, then a transport contractor.
The trio was found guilty under different sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, for misappropriation of public money amounting to around Rs 9 lakh, and convicted by the Special Judge, Vigilance, Dhenkanal, according to an official statement.
Mohanty, while serving as Dhenkanal collector during 2001-02, and the two other accused were found to have caused financial loss to the government exchequer, the statement said.
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The then collector had approved a higher rate quoted by transport contractor Balasamanta for transporting rice and wheat from the FCI godown in Dhenkanal to various block and gram panchayat headquarters under labour-intensive works, it said.
The approved transportation rate prescribed by the Odisha Civil Supplies Corporation was not followed by Mohanty and Balasamanta. A higher rate was paid to the contractor after accepting hand quotations submitted by him in violation of government norms, the statement said.
“The Odisha Vigilance will now move the competent authority for stoppage of pension of Mohanty and Das following their conviction,” a senior official said.