Tainted IPS officer under scanner for money laundering

BHUBANESWAR: A day after registering a case of corruption against Tripura cadre Odia IPS officer Joydeep Nayak, the vigilance officials suspect him of having laundered money meant for the ICLIK (Instant Complaint Logging Internet Kiosk) project, initiated by him in 2014.
The officials suspect that a huge amount of government money may have been wasted on the project, which was meant to allow women to lodge their complaints in an ATM-like machine without visiting police stations.During his deputation as the inspector general of the human rights protection cell (HRPC) of the Odisha Police, Nayak launched the ICLIK project in Bhubaneswar on January 28, 2014. The Odisha Police expressed ignorance about the cost of the project.
The machine, currently gathering dust inside the ATM hall of a private bank near Vani Vihar, has a touch-screen interface, GPRS connectivity, an in-built camera, microphone, scanner and a printer where complaints can be filed in three modes online filing, voice recording and document scanning. Once the complaint is registered, the same would be transferred to a central server, located at the deputy commissioner of police's (DCP)'s office and subsequently to police stations for further action.
"We will find out the source of funding for the project. Apart from probing his complicity in bungling government funds in the name of a computer literacy programme, we will expand our investigation into some other projects launched by Nayak. We have also heard that he insisted some corporate houses to sponsor the solar power supply to a village near Khurda," a vigilance official said. Sources said the ICLIK project seems to be have failed as only 25 women lodged complaints therein in the last two years. Nayak had on his Facebook page claimed that his project was appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a conference in Guwahati in December 2014.
People questioned the benefit of ICLICK. "Why will a woman in distress take the pain of visiting the kiosk and spend time in lodging a complaint. She can instantly dial 100 or the police station concerned," said Siddharth Das, a lawyer. "Since the ICLIK does not treat a grievance as a formal FIR, a woman will have to visit the police station for verification and examination. How will it benefit the women?, Das asked.