Cuttack: A special vigilance court in Baripada Monday convicted a retired Orissa Administrative Service (OAS) officer in connection with fire extinguisher procurement irregularities.
The convicted official was identified as Bansidhar Nayak, a former district project coordinator of Sarva Siskhya Abhiyan (SSA) in Mayurbhanj district.
In 2010, Nayak had procured fire extinguishers from a private firm, named San Enterprises, in which he had allegedly showed undue favour to the firm causing losses to the state government.
Later, a case was registered with the Balasore vigilance police station against Nayak and the proprietor of San Enterprises, Ajit Kumar Dalai. The vigilance filed the charge sheet in the court.
Pronouncing the verdict, special vigilance court judge sentenced Nayak to one and a half year of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of `1 lakh. In case of default on payment of the fine, he will have to undergo an additional rigorous imprisonment of six month.
Similarly, the court handed down one and a half year imprisonment to Dalai and imposed a penalty of `1.5 lakh. Failure to pay the penalty will invite another jail term of six month, the court said.
While former vigilance DSP Ganeswar Sethi had investigated the case, special vigilance public prosecutor KC Satpathy appeared for the prosecution.
PNN
