NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Giridhar Gopal in Bhubaneswar
At least four senior officers of the Indian Administrative Service have been charged for their involvement in the Below Poverty Line card racket unearthed recently in Orissa's impoverished Nabrangpur district, official sources said on Saturday.
Several Members of Legislative Assembly, Members of Parliament had alleged about the circulation of large number of fake BPL cards in the district in 1997.
On the basis of their allegations, the state government had ordered an inquiry, state food and civil supply minister Bed Prakash Agrawal said.
The then additional administrator of the undivided KBK [Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput] Hurshikesh Panda who probed the allegations reported in 1998 that at least 90,000 fake BPL card were in circulation in the district, he said.
There are prima facie evidences against four IAS officials for contributing to this racket, he said.
The officers are Jayanta Dev, Digambar Mohanty, Surya Narayan Panda and Dhirendra Kumar Pujari, he said.
While Dev who is now the urban secretary has been chargesheeted, cases against others are still under examinations, he said. Mohanty is at present posted as district magistrate and collector of Puri, he said. The remaining two officers have retired, he added.
Fifteen other government employees have also been charged for their involvement in this racket, he said.
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