Senior Odisha IAS officer, under CBI lens in bribery case, resigns over ‘promotion’

The resignation came hours before a CBI team raided his residence in connection with the ₹10-lakh bribery case.

Senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi, under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over his alleged link with a senior officer of a central PSU who was arrested in a ₹10-lakh bribery case in December last year, on Tuesday submitted his resignation from the service citing denial of promotion.

Odisha IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi. (Sourced photo)

In a handwritten letter to chief secretary Manoj Ahuja, the 1995-batch officer said his batchmate Hemant Sharma was recently promoted to the rank of additional chief secretary in the state government, while he was overlooked.

“I do not think I will have any future in the government,” he wrote in the two-page resignation letter, referring to the CBI probe against him.

HT has seen a copy of the resignation letter. The chief secretary’s office has not commented on the matter yet.

The resignation came hours before a CBI team raided his residence in connection with the ₹10-lakh bribery case related to the Bridge and Roof Company (India) Ltd, a central public sector undertaking headquartered in Kolkata.

On December 8, the CBI officials arrested Chanchal Mukherjee, the group general manager of the PSU, on charges of taking ₹10 lakh bribe from a real estate company promising them work orders. Mukherjee was caught taking the bribe money from the owner of a real estate firmin front of a hotel in Bhubaneswar.

Sethi’s name came up during Mukherjee’s interrogation. As the CBI team reached his residence on Tuesday morning, they had an altercation with Sethi, who demanded a search warrant. “The CBI officers are harassing me and my family members. Their behaviour towards us has been very rough,” he alleged.

Claiming innocence, Sethi said no FIR has been filed against him. “I have no connection with Chanchal Mukherjee (an accused in the case). I haven’t received any favour from the Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited. Chanchal Mukherjee had unrestricted access to the State Secretariat as he had earlier worked in various departments of the state government.”