Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court today rejected the anticipatory bail petition of senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi in connection with a bribery case.

Justice V. Narasingh of Orissa HC rejected Sethi’s petition in the bribery case.

In February this year, a team of the CBI had raided the official residence of Sethi in the Odisha capital here and questioned the senior bureaucrat in connection with the bribery case.

The CBI had registered the bribery case after Rs 10 lakh was seized from a luxury vehicle in the capital city here in December last year.

The central agency had arrested Chanchal Mukherjee, group general manager of the Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited, in connection with the case.

Mukherjee was present in the vehicle during the seizure of the cash. He was allegedly taking bribe from the director of a Bhubaneswar-based private entity, said the CBI.

The CBI had summoned Sethi to depose before it for investigation into the bribery case for his alleged link with Mukherjee and two other accused—Debadutta Mohapatra and Santosh Moharana.

The senior IAS officer, however, pleaded innocence in the bribery case. “No FIR was filed against me. I have no connection with Chanchal Mukherjee. I have not received any favour from anyone,” Sethi said in his defence.