Retired IAS officer convicted in disproportionate assets case

BHUBANESWAR: Retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Himanshu Sekhar Samantaray was on Thursday sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment by a vigilance court here for possessing assets disproportionate to his known source of income.
The court acquitted his wife in the corruption case, registered against the couple in 2008.
“Judge Balakrushna Mohapatra found Samantray guilty of possessing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 80,46,133.Apart from the 3-year jail term, Samantaray was asked to pay Rs 20 lakh fine,” special public prosecutor Sunil Kumar Pati told TOI.
Samantaray, who was promoted from Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) to IAS in 2006, was the managing director of Odisha Lift Irrigation Corporation when the anti-corruption wing raided his office and residence here on July 29, 2008.
“Samantaray and his wife were accused of possessing disproportionate assets to the tune of nearly Rs 1.3 crore. After trial, the court acquitted his wife and found evidence against him of amassing disproportionate property of nearly Rs 80 lakh,” vigilance director R P Sharma said.
Sharma said Samantaray, who was present in court during pronouncement of the verdict, was immediately not sent to jail as the court gave him 30 days to appeal the sentence in the Orissa high court.
“We have also started the legal process to confiscate his property,” Sharma said.