Facing CBI probe, IAS Officer Bishnupada Shunted

BHUBANESWAR: Under CBI scanner for his suspected link with Chanchal Mukherjee, a senior official of Bridge and Roof Company Ltd, who was arrested in a bribery case on Dec 7, the state govt on Tuesday shunted senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi from three departments he was heading.

Sethi, who was in-charge of social security and empowerment of persons with disabilities department, ST&SC development department, and Odisha language department, has been given a rather insignificant posting as the officer on special duty (OSD) of the general administration and public grievance dept. 

As per the govt notification, senior IAS officer Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra who recently returned from central deputation, will replace Sethi as the secretary of those three departments. 

IAS officer Manoj Kumar Sahoo upon joining the state govt on inter-cadre deputation, has been appointed as the special secretary to the chief minister, according to the notification.

In a related development, Sethi, who was summoned by the CBI to join the investigation on December 11, has reportedly requested the agency to be questioned at its Delhi office instead Bhubaneswar. It is believed that Sethi chose CBI’s Delhi office for questioning in an apparent bid to avoid media and public glare in Bhubaneswar.

In another development, B K Singh, general manager of Bridge and Roof Company, appeared at the CBI office here for questioning. Singh and Mukherjee had reportedly attended a meeting with Sethi on Dec 5 and discussed their Odisha-based projects. Mukherjee was arrested for accepting Rs 10 lakh bribe from a businessman two days later.