Bhubaneswar, Sept 4: Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Monday carried out searches at the office and residence of officials of M/s Hindustan Steel Construction Works Ltd at N-1-157, Nayapalli, IRC Village, Bhubaneswar in connection with substandard execution and misappropriation of funds in the construction of 4 Hostel Blocks in Sonepur District, alloted by the SC & ST Development Department, Govt of Odisha.
The searches are being undertaken on the strength of search warrants issued by the Special Judge, Vigilance, Bolangir, Odisha Vigilance.
The raids are in connection with a case registered with Vigilance Cell police station on August 26 Under Section 13 (2) r/w 13 (1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act of 2018/420/409/120B IPC.
Worth mentioning, the Odisha Vigilance officials had arrested Bijay Kumar Agrawal, Special Class Contractor and his Power of Attorney holder Deepak Kumar Agrawal on August 28. They were arrested for misappropriation of government funds in the construction of four 100-seated hostels for SC students in Sonepur district.
The duo had been absconding from their residence at Balangir since the initiation of vigilance inquiry into the matter. They were apprehended by a team of vigilance from Rourkela.
During preliminary surface technical evaluation, large-scale cracks, seepages, low width of roof plaster, use of poor quality wood materials against prescribed sal wood, use of non standard low quality electrical and sanitary fittings instead of prescribed branded products, and many other deviations were detected. Following this, the case was registered.
