Post News Network
Cuttack, Dec 3: Former Orissa Director General of Police Prakash Mishra will not appear before Vigilance DSP M Radhakrishna December 4.
According to sources, Mishra, who is the special secretary (internal security) in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, cited the current Parliament session and his engagements as the reason for not being able to appear before the Vigilance Directorate here.
Mishra said he holds an important post in the Home Ministry and cannot ignore his responsibility to appear before the directorate at the present juncture.
The former DGP had urged the High Court Tuesday to consider his petition seeking exemption from appearance before DSP of Vigilance Directorate here December 4, through his lawyer. The state vigilance department had issued summons to Mishra asking him to appear before it December 4 in connection with a case of alleged irregularities during his stint as the CMD of Orissa Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (OPHWC). Bhubaneswar vigilance division had registered a case against him alleging that advance payment of Rs 59crore was given to some steel and cement suppliers in 2009 in violation of rules. Mishra was the chairman-cum-managing-director of OPHWC between 2006 and 2009, in the rank of additional DGP. Mishra had responded by filing a petition in the High Court accusing the government of mala fide intention and sought quashing of the FIR against him. He had alleged that the initiation of criminal proceedings against him is intentional and an abuse of judicial process.
The High Court had earlier granted reprieve to the senior IPS officer pending graft case adjudication that the case should not prevent him from occupying any other Central government assignment. The High Court had also restrained the state from taking any coercive action against Mishra with regard to the pending case.