Odisha CB grills two more in Happy Kar wife’s disability certificate case

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 10:

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Crime Branch (CB) today interrogated two more persons including another doctor in the case pertaining to the award of disability certificate to Srabani Kar wife of Himanshu Bhusan Kar alias Happy, a close aide of Dr Motilal Gouda arrested in the fake gazette notification scam.

The EOW questioned Dr S K Meher of Capital Hospital and its former audiologist Khirod Panda.

Srabani, wife of Himanshu, an employee of Capital Hospital had obtained a disability certificate in 2008.

Dr Meher and audiologist Panda were part of the four-member medical board that had allegedly recommended issue of disability certificate to Srabani.

“Since I was a member of the district medical board in 2008, the Crime Branch had summoned me and has questioned me in that connection. They asked me whether I was a member of the board and was serving in the hospital during that period, I told them in the affirmative,” said Dr Meher answering to queries by reporters.

“We in administrative capacity had put our counter-signatures on it. How can I say whether it was fake or not, since I haven’t conducted the examination, I had only countersigned the document, I cannot saying whether it was fake or not,” he said on being asked that the certificate was false.

“There is no report available on whether I had conducted the audio test. I cannot say whether I had conducted the test or not since there is no report here.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch is digging into how the PHD contractor licence was issued to Srabani.

Earlier, on Tuesday, it had questioned Dr Santosh Panda, an ENT specialist at the hospital, one of the four-member medical board that had recommended issue of disability certificate to Srabani.

Since the contractor licence was issued basing on the disability certificate, the EOW is examining if there are any government guideline or reservation in this regard. Srabani was issued a C-Class PHD contractor licence.

In the last three years, her firm was awarded at least Rs 10 crore worth of government works. She had also filed returns for an income to the tune of Rs 3.9 crores last year.

The EOW probe is part of its investigation into suspended doctor Motilal Gouda’s fake gazette scam.