Bhubaneswar: The Special Vigilance Judge of Baripada on Monday convicted five individuals for embezzling government money of Rs.1,14,26,194 in connection with the construction of the earth dam and truncated spillway work of the Deo Irrigation Project.
The convicted individuals are Ashok Kumar Mohapatra, former executive engineer (retired), Pradeep Kumar Panda, former senior divisional accounts officer (retired), Baikuntha Nath Naik, former junior clerk-cum-Auditor (retired) and Sankara Narayan, Project Director (PD) of M/s B. Engineers and Builders.
They were sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs. 50,000 each. The fifth accused, Tushar Mishra, Managing Director of M/s B. Engineers and Builders, failed to appear in court, resulting in a non-bailable warrant (NBW) being issued against him.
The misappropriation was related to the construction of an earth dam and truncated spillway work for the Deo Irrigation Project.
Odisha Vigilance investigated the case, led by Bijaya Kumar Mallick, Ex-Inspector, Balasore Division, and prosecuted by Santanu Kumar Das, Special Public Prosecutor, Vigilance, Baripada.
Following their conviction, Odisha Vigilance will petition to stop the pensions of Mohapatra, Panda, and Naik.
