EX-BALANGIR COLLECTOR DEBRAJ MISHRA
ARRESTED
Saturday,
08 November 2014 | PNS | BHUBANESWAR/ BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar
1
Former Balangir district Collector Debraj Mishra was arrested
from his residence in Bhubaneswar by the Vigilance police on the charges of
gross irregularities and corruption in the appointment of Revenue Inspectors
(RIs) and Amins during his tenure in Balangir.
Mishra,
who was the Balangir Collector during 2012-13, had been suspended by the State
Government earlier this year after the serious charges were levelled against
him over recruitment of RIs and Amins. It was alleged that Mishra in
collaboration with some of his staff had collected money from candidates on
promise of providing them jobs.
The
Government had ordered a Vigilance inquiry into the allegations and later
handed over the case to the Crime Branch (CB) police.
Mishra,
an IAS officer promoted from the OAS rank, was placed under suspension after
the preliminary investigation found prima facie evidence against him.
The
CB had also registered cases at the Balangir SDJM Court against Mishra and four
OAS officers Anita Panda, Binod Bihari Das, Raghunath Mundari and Ripunath Suna
and senior clerk Niranjan Tripathy in connection with the scam.
It
was an RTI query that nailed the officials, including the Mishra.
The
startling revelations about the gross irregularities obtained through RTI first
led first to a Vigilance inquiry and then a CB probe, culminating in the arrest
of Mishra.
The
CB, during its investigation, had found the involvement of the Collector and
four other Government employees, including Niranjan Tripathy, in the illegal
appointments and had registered cases against all five of them.
“The
Balangir Collector was the sole custodian of the recruitment process as well as
the almirah where the question-cum-answer sheets were kept. It is now quite
clear that Mishra, instead of keeping these question-cum-answer sheets in the
Government treasury, had kept them in the almirah at his office room with the
key in his possession,” the Vigilance inquiry report had said.
The
report also said that Niranjan Tripathy had intervened in the matter and told
the answer evaluators that there were no specific guidelines regarding computer
practical test which was later conducted as per his suggestion. The report had
also stated that the candidates were awarded marks as per the order of the
Collector.
The
report had revealed that the candidates who had secured mere two marks in
computer practical test were given 93 marks while the candidates who had
secured 98 marks were awarded zero marks as per the advice of Mishra during the
revision of answer sheets, which was conducted by the employees not engaged in
the examination earlier.
The
Revenue Divisional Commissioner (North) had also conducted an inquiry into the
scam and submitted a report to the Government.
An
elated Balangir-based RTI activist Nilamani Joshi, who along with others like
noted RTI activist Pradip Pradhan and some unemployed youths had raised voice
against the irregularities from the very beginning of the recruitment drive,
said, “It is good news for us. Now, we demand arrest of other subordinates
officials, clerks and invigilators involved in the RI and Amin recruitment
scam. The answer sheets should be examined by handwriting experts and in a
forensic laboratory to determine the tampering done by invigilators of the
examinations.”
Efforts
to get a comment on the development from Balangir district Collector M Muthukumar
failed as calls to his cell phone went unanswered.
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