Orissa High Court grants bail to IAS officer Bijay Ketan Upadhyay

Cuttack, Feb 3: The Orissa High Court on Monday granted bail to suspended IAS officer Bijay Ketan Upadhyay. The court directed the lower court to impose terms and conditions on the bail. He had appealed the high court after the Special Vigilance Court refused to grant him bail on January 13. The bureaucrat, who was Horticulture Director, was arrested by the Vigilance on December 30 last year for accepting and demanding Rs 1 lakh as a bribe from a private company. He was sent to 14-day judicial custody at the Jharpada Special Jail. On January 5, the Vigilance Court had sent Upadhyay and private banker Santosh Pattanayak, who was arrested earlier in connection with the case, to eight days’ judicial custody in Jharpada Special Jail, following the completion of five-day police remand. Reportedly, Vigilance sleuths had caught only Pattanayak with the bribe money and had later arrested the bureaucrat on the basis of the former’s statement. Pattanayak is stated to be good friend of the suspended IAS officer. According to reports, Upadhyay during his tenure as Fisheries Director had ensured the opening of an account to deposit the funds received under Rashtriya Krushi Vikash Yojana (RKVY) in a private bank where Pattanayak was working in 2016. He had deposited Rs 8 crore in the account. When Pattanayak joined another private bank in April 2019, Upadhay who was then the Horticulture Director also opened an official account in that bank too in June 2019. Around Rs 50 crore, received as special package from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for compensation to coconut growers affected by cyclone Fani, was deposited in it on June 12, 2019.