Bhubaneswar: After the arrest of Dr Motital Gouda, suspended Assistant Director of Factories and Boilers (Medical) and prime accused in the fake gazette notification case, the State Vigilance is now in the process of assessing the movable and unmovable properties of Himanshu Kar alias Happy Kar, an Grade III employee of the Capital Hospital here and the alleged go-between who did business worth crores taking advantage of his proximity to Gouda and several ruling party leaders, including some ministers.
The state anti-corruption wing, in course of its investigation, has come to know that Kar was the middleman between Gouda and the concerned ministers.
The Health department too has begun a probe into how Kar, a senior clerk in the ANM Training Centre near the Capital Hospital since the last six years, was able to obtain a differently-abled contractor licence in the name of his wife.
Investigation has revealed that Kar, during his tenure as a clerk in the Capital Hospital from 2000 to 2010, had managed to obtain differently abled contractor licence fraudulently from the concerned Board by producing a false disabled certificate in the name of his wife and worked as a contractor of Public Health department with the full knowledge of the concerned minister.
Kar used to attend office once in a blue moon. But the attendance register says he was always present. Apparently, no one had the guts to speak against him as he is ‘very close’ to the minister.
Despite being a government employee, Kar used to attend the political functions of the BJD and accompany ruling party MLAs on their vacation tours along with Gouda.
Now that the Vigilance has begun probe into the matter, Kar has applied for a long leave, reliable sources said.
Investigation by the OTV says that Kar was in the WhatsAPP group of the PRO to the chief minister. But following allegations against him, his name struck off from the group.
Though Kar claims that the allegations brought against him are false, he is reluctant to give his statement to the media.
Talking to OTV today, Biswabhusan Patnaik, Director of Capital Hospital, said he has received a copy of a letter from the State Vigilance asking Kar to appear for interrogation. But he said a proceeding will be made against him only after a letter is received from the state government. “It is up to the principal of the ANM Training Centre to relieve Kar,” Patnaik said adding that the Vigilance has asked Kar to appear between July 26 and August 18.
Notably, BJP Yuva Morcha president Tankadhar Tripathy, in his recent media briefing, had said the Public Health wing of the Housing and Urban Development department has allotted contract to the tune of over crores to Kar through the false disabled certificate in the name of his wife Srabani Kar.
“Why did the state government not conduct investigation into the matter?” he had asked.