Prime accused in cement scam held

BHADRAK: The prime accused in the cement scam in Basudevpur block was arrested by Vigilance sleuths on Thursday. The accused clerk, Kamalakanta Giri, was produced in the Vigilance Court which remanded him in judicial custody.On a tip-off, the sleuths nabbed Giri near the Bhadrak Kachery area.Vigilance DSP Banamali Dhal said Giri, who is accused of misappropriating cement worth Rs 35 lakh, was wanted for the last seven months. Involvement of other officials is being investigated.The Vigilance initiated a probe following a report in these columns.Around 30,000 bags of cement were purchased in 2010-11 financial year for various construction works in the block. It was alleged that only 20,000 bags were mentioned in the stock register.Later during an inquiry, 14,423 bags were found missing from the godown.BDO Saroj Dash, in a letter to the project director of DRDA, had held the clerk responsible claiming that 14,423 bags of cement worth around ` 35,19,212 had been misappropriated by Giri in two phases.Investigations revealed that over 700 bags of cement were used for construction activities at Naikanidihi, Brahmanigaon, Balimeda and two other panchayats, which did not have a mention in the stock register.House Set Afire over MurderTension prevails in Chudamani village under Basudevpur police limits for the last two days following a murder and arson case. Police said Ranjit Tarai (35) was stabbed to death on Basudevpur-Chudamani Road by one Jada Mallick of the same village on Wednesday over past enmity. Even as police registered a case, some supporters of the Tarai blocked Basudevpur-Chudamani Road on Thursday morning protesting the incident.Though police intervened, some of them rushed to the house of the accused and set it afire. No casualty was reported.Police have detained five persons for interrogation and deployed a platoon of police force in the village.