Odisha court sends ex collector to 14-day judicial custody

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bolangir, Nov 8:

Debaraj Mishra, the former collector of Odisha’s Bolangir district who was arrested by vigilance on corruption charges yesterday, was sent to the district jail here after the Additional District Judge (ADJ) remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Mishra’s bail petition would be taken up for hearing on Monday.

Mishra was produced amid tight security in the residential office of the ADJ here this morning since the courts are closed today.

Hundreds of curious people lined up the road through which Mishra was taken from the ADJ’s residence to the district jail to have a glimpse of the former collector. But no one, including media crews, was allowed to come anywhere close to him by the policemen.

This was in sharp contrast to the scene in Bhubaneswar yesterday when television crews thrust their booms on Mishra and forced him to give his reaction on his arrest. “I have been framed,” he had told the media yesterday.

Mishra was arrested from his residence in Kapilaparasad in Bhubaneswar yesterday by a joint tam of Vigilance officials from Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar divisions in connection with the gross irregularities in the appointment of revenue inspectors (RIs) and amins during his tenure as collector of Bolangir district during 2012-13.

Vigilance sleuths have seized a number of incriminating documents, besides about 300 grams of gold from his residence during the raid.

The startling revelations about the gross irregularities obtained through RTI had led first to a Vigilance inquiry followed by a Crime Branch probe and culminated in Mishra’s arrest yesterday..

The state government had later suspended Mishra after preliminary investigation found prima facie evidence against him.