Bhubaneswar, Sept 13: Odisha Vigilance has apprehended two absconding associates of Parikhita Jena, an OAS officer and former Block Development Officer of Suliapada in Mayurbhanj, who is accused of embezzling Rs 1.19 crore. The arrested individuals, Dibyalochan Dash and Manoj Kumar Deo, were captured on September 12 and 13, respectively.
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 two had been on the run since August 14, when Jena, who was serving as Deputy Collector of Nilagiri Sub-division, was arrested along with three other associates.
Jena misappropriated funds from the Odisha Mineral Bearing Area Development Corporation (OMBADC) for the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23 without executing any work. Along with Debadutta Das, Sujit Kumar Mohanty, and Akhila Kumar Das—into whose accounts he had also diverted embezzled funds—Jena is now in jail custody.