SC grants protection from arrest to OAS officer in DA case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday granted protection from arrest to Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer Bijay Ketan Sahoo in connection with a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for possession of disproportionate assets. A vacation bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Rajesh Bindal granted the relief to the officer on the condition that he would appear before the special court. The top court also issued notice to the anti-money laundering agency in the matter and posted it for hearing on July 29.

The Orissa High Court had earlier refused to grant anticipatory bail to Sahoo, saying a prima facie case stands against the OAS officer. The federal agency is investigating Nalini Prusty, an Odisha financial service officer, and her husband Bijaya Ketan Sahoo, an officer of the state administrative service, in a case of allegedly amassing assets worth Rs 5.05 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income. "Nalini Prusty and Bijaya Ketan Sahoo have invested their ill-gotten income, which is over and above their known sources of income, in acquiring various landed properties and bank investments in their name and in the name of Debaki Prusty, mother of Nalini Prusty,” the ED had said in a statement.