After CBI summons in bribery case, senior Odisha IAS officer gets his transfer orders

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Tuesday shunted out principal secretary of Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department Bishnupada Sethi and appointed him as an officer on special duty (OSD) after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summoned him as a witness in a bribery case.

Apart from the social security department, Sethi previously also held additional charge of the departments of Odia Language, Literature & Culture department and ST&SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare department.

Sethi, a 1995 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been divested of his responsibilities with respect to these departments and will be OSD with the general administration and public grievance department.

His transfer orders come days after CBI arrested Chanchal Mukherjee, group general manager of Kolkata-based Bridge and Roof Company, a central public sector enterprise, on charges of taking a ₹10 lakh bribe from a real estate company promising them work orders.

Mukherjee was arrested in front of Mayfair Hotel in Bhubaneswar on Saturday evening after he allegedly received the money from the owner of a real estate firm.

CBI later summoned Sethi and told him to appear before the investigating officer at the agency’s Bhubaneswar office on December 11 but he was a no-show. He was subsequently told to appear before the agency by 12 noon on Wednesday.

“It is learnt that you are acquainted with some important and relevant facts and circumstances of the instant CBI case, which are required to be ascertained from you,” the CBI said in its letter.

CBI has already interrogated two drivers allegedly linked to Sethi and the general manager of the hotel where the bribes were allegedly paid.