Motilal Gouda arrested from Andhra Pradesh

Motilal Gouda, who had been hiding after being accused of defrauding Odisha government by issuing fake gazette notification and swindling public money, was today arrested from Andhra Pradesh, police said.

“Motilal Gouda, who had gone into hiding after rejection of his anticipatory bail plea by the High Court, was caught by a police team from Vizag-Vijaynagaram area in Andhra Pradesh,” DG, Crime Branch (Special), B K Sharma told reporters here.

On the basis of certain specific information, the team of the crime branch of state police had been tracking Gouda for the last four days, he said, adding the accused is being brought from Andhra Pradesh.

A number of charges including forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy and attempt to destroy evidence have been slapped against him, Sharma said. Three persons had earlier been arrested in this connection, he said.

BJD government in the state had come under sharp attack on the issue from different quarters including opposition Congress and BJP as they alleged that Gouda was enjoying the backing of the ruling party leaders.

Orissa High Court had last month rejected anticipatory bail application of Gouda, who was suspended from the post of assistant director (Medical) in Directorate of Factories and Boilers after his name surfaced in a health check-up scam arising out of alleged fake gazette notification.

Gouda, stated to have strong political links, is accused of being the mastermind behind issuance of a recent fake gazette notification in which corporate houses and private companies were asked to get their employees’ health check-ups in certain selected pathological laboratories.

It is alleged that Gouda received huge kickbacks from these empaneled laboratories, police said.

Meanwhile, vigilance sleuths yesterday raided the his house following allegations of possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The raids were conducted at Gouda’s official residential quarters here, his native place located at Chandiput in Gajapati district and his father-in-law’s house at Ashok Nagar in Berhampur town, vigilance officials said.

Some diagnostic centres were also raided as they were allegedly in Gouda’s network, who is an accused in the health insurance scam, they said. According to an official statement, Gouda acquired properties worth lakhs of rupees during his service period of around seven years.