Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar: Intensifying its probe into the financial fraud allegedly committed by Motilal Gouda, the former assistant director of the Directorate of Factories & Boilers now on the run, Vigilance sleuths on Saturday conducted simultaneous raids at eight places, including the residence of Gouda at Chandipur village under Mohana block.

According to sources, a seven-member team of the investigating agency headed by a DCP, is conducting the raid at the ancestral home of Gouda.

Besides, the investigating team is also conducting raids at the clinics of Gouda located in Bhubaneswar, Talcher and Cuttack, informed RP Sharma, Director, Vigilance.

Notably, on November 17, 2015, the State government had removed 408 medical officers from government service for remaining ‘absent from duty for a long period unauthorisedly and willfully.’ Gouda’s name had appeared in the list at serial number 355.

Curiously, Gouda was working as the Assistant director in the Department of Factories (Medical), which functions under the Labour department, when he was sacked and continued to do so till a scam perpetrated by him sealed his fate.

A month before being sacked by the Health department, Gouda allegedly issued a fake notification asking industries in the state to get the health check-ups of their staff done at one of the five ’empanelled’ pathology laboratories. Based on this notification, he even managed to sign a contract worth Rs 63 lakh with Navaratna PSU Nalco and was in the process of signing another contract worth Rs 1.02 crore when his game was up.

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