Five public servants arrested in Odisha for rural housing scam

Bhubaneswar: Vigilance sleuths today arrested five public servants for their alleged complicity in misappropriation of funds under rural housing scheme.

It was alleged that the beneficiaries received the sanctioned amount but no houses were constructed under Indira Awas Yojna (IAY) – low-cost houses meant for poor.

The sleuths of the anti-corruption wing today arrested five government servants taking the number of arrests in the rural housing scam to seven.

“State Vigilance continued the drive and registered three more criminal cases, arrested five public servants, initiated three new open enquiries, two secret verifications and also conducted nine surprise checks. During the drive which commenced on June 25 this year, Vigilance registered 11 criminal cases, arrested seven public servants, initiated 48 open enquiries, 34 secret verifications, 25 petition enquiries and conducted 54 surprise checks against the corrupt public servants so far,” a Vigilance Department release said.

Worth mentioning, those who have been arrested today were identified as Dillip Kumar Das, GPTA and Muralidhar Sen, PEO, of Khaira block, Jeturam Majhi, PEO, Badakumari Gram Panchayat, Rikhi Ram Chandrakar, WEO, Umerkote block, Mangal Singh, PEO, Aruhabad Gram Panchayat under Bahanaga block in Balasore.