Court sends IAS officer to 5-days Vigilance remand

Bhubaneswar: Senior IAS officer B K Upadhyaya arrested by the vigilance sleuths in a bribery case was remanded to five days custody of the investigative agency by a special vigilance court here on Tuesday.

Upadhyaya was produced before the court which rejected his bail petition and allowed the investigating agency to take him on five days remand for interrogation.

The 2009 batch IAS officer, who was posted as director of Horticulture was arrested by the vigilance sleuths on Monday and subsequently placed under suspension after a private bank manager received illegal gratification of Rs 1 lakh from a company allegedly on his behalf.

Apart from Upadhyaya, the vigilance had also arrested Santosh Kumar Pattnayak, the relationship manager of Bapuji Nagar branch of YES Bank in Bhubaneswar, while accepting the bribe from a sprinkler irrigation systems supplier allegedly on behalf of Upadhaya, a vigilance statement said.

The bank personnel had been receiving bribes from different companies, dealers and suppliers allegedly on behalf of Upadhayaya, the statement added.

The bureaucrat's office, residence and ancestral home at Balasore were searched by the anti-corruption agency officials following his arrest.

Searches were also conducted at the houses of some relatives of the IAS officer and Pattnayak in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Balasore.

Searches were conducted at 11 different locations and over 100 vigilance officers were deployed for the operation, the statement said.

A team comprising chartered accountant, bank officer and officers of the cyber cell were assisting the police in the investigation, the statement said.

The vigilance has registered a case against the IAS officer under the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 1988.

The suspended IAS officer on Tuesday alleged that he has been falsely implicated in the bribery case by some of his department staff along with a senior officer.

"I have been falsely implicated in the bribery case by some staff of my department including a top-level official to settle scores," Upadhyaya told reporters while being taken to the court by police.