Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance has arrested two absconding associates of Parikhita Jena, OAS officer and former block development officer of Suliapada in Mayurbhanj, accused of embezzling funds to the tune of Rs 1,19 crore.
The arrested have been identified as Dibyalochan Dash and Manoj Kumar Deo. They were nabbed on September 12 and 13.
According to Vigilance, Jena had transferred Rs 10 lakh to Dash’s bank account on March 3 and March 10, 2022, and Rs 8,14,112 to Deo’s account on December 2, 2021. The duo had been on run since August 14 when Jena, serving as the Deputy Collector of Nilagiri Sub-division, was arrested along with three of his associates.
The OAS officer had misappropriated the amount from Odisha Mineral Bearing Area Development Corporation (OMBADC) without executing any work during 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years. Jena along with Debadutta Das, Sujit Kumar Mohanty and Akhila Kumar Das, to whose bank accounts he had also transferred the amount embezzled, are now in jail custody.