Berhampur, Dec 20 (PTI) A special vigilance court here on Friday sentenced a former gram panchayat secretary in Odisha's Ganjam district to three years imprisonment for misappropriation of rice and cement.

Rice was supplied to the panchayat under Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana and National Food for Work Programme.

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Special Judge of the vigilance court Arun Kumar Sahoo also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Bijay Pradhan (62) former secretary of Chandanpur gram panchayat, said Surendra Nath Panda special public prosecutor of the court.

The court convicted Pradhan after examining 16 witnesses and verifying the documents, he said.

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After getting the allegations of misappropriation of the rice and cements, received by the panchayat in different schemes, a vigilance team had conducted a surprise check of the stock on October 16, 2007. During their verification, they found the misappropriation of around 198 quintals of rice.

They had also detected the misappropriation of 64 bags of cement.

The vigilance team had registered a case against Pradhan on December 26, 2007 and started an investigation.

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