HC stays arrest warrant against IAS Vinod Kumar

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Bhuaneswar: In a big relief to tainted IAS officer Vinod Kumar, Orissa High Court Tuesday stayed a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against him in Orissa Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) scam case by the special vigilance court July 3. The next hearing in the case will come up July 19. Earlier, the absconding IAS officer had moved the HC seeking relief from the NBW which had also been issued against four other convicts along with Kumar.
Of all the convicts, Sanjay Mohanty, then assistant manager of ORHDC, was present during delivery of the judgment. He was awarded rigorous imprisonment of three years and a fine of Rs75,000. A five-member vigilance team Thursday had raided Kumar’s residence at VIP Colony under Nayapalli police station. The team also conducted a raid at the residence of Kumar’s accountant Pradeep Kumar Rout at Niladri Vihar area under Chandrasekharpur police station.
In the wake of the Super Cyclone in 1999, the Central Rural Development Department had issued a grant through the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) to construct houses for people whose houses had been damaged by the natural calamity.
During his stint as the Managing Director of ORHDC in 2000, Kumar had illegally doled out loans from the coffers of ORHDC to a non-government organization – Gramya Vikash Manch –for developing building centers.
Building materials like bricks, doors, iron grills and other things were made available at building centers for their use in construction of houses to rehabilitate the homeless. Initially, the loan amount was `21.50 lakh. However, later it was inflated to `55 lakh at the time of the filing of the charge sheet.