CUTTACK: Senior IAS officer Vinod Kumar , convicted in a corruption case and awarded three years of imprisonment by a vigilance court, was granted bail by the Orissa high court on Monday.A single bench of Justice J P Das granted bail to Kumar and directed that the conditions for the bail be fixed by the vigilance court. Along with Kumar, who was a former MD of the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC), another employee of the corporation, Purna Chandra Das, was granted bail by the high court. Das had been convicted along with Kumar for financial irregularities in the ORHDC.The special vigilance court on August 10 had sentenced Kumar and Das to three years of rigorous imprisonment soon after they surrendered before it. Later, they were arrested and lodged in Jharpada Jail . The duo had moved the high court for bail."The high court has allowed my client's bail plea. The terms and condition of the bail will be fixed by the vigilance court that convicted him," said a counsel representing Kumar.As per the case details, the vigilance directorate had registered a case against Kumar, Das and four other employees of the ORHDC in 2001 for financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 55 lakh in the construction of cyclone shelters after the Super Cyclone of October 1999. The vigilance registered cases against Kumar and the others and submitted chargesheet. The vigilance special court on July 3 convicted all six and issued a non-bailable warrant against them. However, the sentencing was put on hold as Kumar could not be traced. Finally, he surrendered before the court on August 10 and was given a three-year jail term. He is currently posted as officer on special duty in the higher education department.

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