**Cuttack/Bhubaneswar:** The remand hearing of arrested senior Tripura-cadre IPS officer Joydeep Nayak was adjourned to Tuesday owing to non-submission of case diary in the court.
Nayak, arrested from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday for his alleged involvement in the Rs 88 lakh scam, was sent to Choudwar Jail after being produced in the Special Vigilance Court here on Sunday.
The Odisha Vigilance sleuths brought him to Bhubaneswar from Ghaziabad earlier on Sunday and had produced before the Special Vigilance Court today (Monday) as the court had earlier posted the date for Nayak’s remand hearing on the day.
The Vigilance officials had sought 4-day remand of Nayak while the court on Sunday had deferred the hearing to Monday.
However on Monday, the Court again deferred the remand hearing to Tuesday as the requisite case diary could not be submitted.
Notably, Nayak had been produced before the Ghaziabad CJM Court on Saturday soon after his arrest in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) and the court there has allowed the Odisha Vigilance cops to bring him to Odisha for interrogation on a four-day transit remand.
Earlier this month, Joydeep Nayak has already been suspended by the Tripura Government for his alleged involvement in the scam in Odisha Police.
Nayak was on deputation to Odisha from Tripura in 2011 and served in several positions here. He returned to Tripura in January this year.
According to the Odisha Vigilance report, the embezzlement had taken place during Nayak’s deputation with the Odisha Police. At that time, he was posted as Inspector General (IG) of the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) Protection Cell in Cuttack.
An FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been lodged with the Odisha Police against Nayak and some other people and Odisha Vigilance Director had recently initiated a probe after the fraudulent act was detected by Nayak’s successor.
The Odisha Government had sanctioned Rs 88 lakh in 2015 for the skill development of 6,000 SC and ST students. However, Nayak has been accused of awarding the contract to a Cuttack-based private organisation without floating any tender.
The money had been spent and allegedly fake utilisation certificates had also been submitted within one month of the allocation without providing training to SC and ST students.
The Odisha Vigilance Department has already arrested five people including the cell’s Additional Superintendent of Police Basanta Kumar Pradhan (who was then a deputy superintendent of police of the cell), for their involvement in the irregularities.
Nayak had sought anticipatory bail from Orissa High Court before his arrest as he was hospitalized for leg ligament operation in Delhi.
Nayak was supposed to become an Additional Director General of Police, but the Tripura government withheld the promotion after receiving a preliminary report of the Odisha Government on the scam.
