Bishnupada Sethi, a 1995-batch IAS officer from Odisha, submitted his resignation from the service citing denial of promotion.
He is already being probed by 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 cropped up in December last year.
In his resignation letter to chief secretary Manoj Ahuja, Sethi wrote that 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.
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.
What is the connection?
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 firm in front of a hotel in Bhubaneswar.
Sethi blames CBI of harassment
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.”
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