Cuttack, February 25: The High Court on Tuesday ordered that no coercive action shall be taken against senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Bishnupada Sethi till March 4.
Sethi has moved the High Court against the CBI raids in connection with a bribery case involving Bridge and Roof Company, a Central PSU.
The matter has been posted for hearing on March 4.
Recently, Sethi confronted a CBI team during a search of his official residence in Bhubaneswar in connection with a Rs 10 lakh bribery case, claiming harassment despite no FIR being filed against him.
“The CBI officials carried out a search at my residence, even though there is no FIR against me. They are unnecessarily harassing me, my wife and daughter,” Sethi told reporters in the presence of the agency’s officials outside his official residence in Bhubaneswar.
He even objected to the search procedures, stating that the eight-member team which conducted raids did not include a woman officer.
The 1995-batch IAS officer denied any connections with Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited or its group general manager, Chanchal Mukherjee, who was arrested in the case last year.
The case involves the arrest of Mukherjee on December 7 last year for allegedly accepting a bribe from Santosh Moharana, director of Bhubaneswar-based Penta A Studio Private Ltd, along with middleman Debadutta Mohapatra and another individual.
Following these arrests, the CBI issued a notice to Sethi on December 10, requesting his appearance.
The investigation had also included interrogation of Sethi’s drivers by the CBI last year.
