Bhubaneswar: Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy and former Indian Forest Service officer Abhay Kant Pathak have been tested positive for COVID-19 in Jharpada special jail.
According to reports, the duo has been kept in isolation ward at the jail where they are undergoing treatment and their health condition is stated to be stable, informed the prison officials.
Both of them developed cold and fever a couple of days ago. if their health parameters fluctuate, they will be shifted to COVID treatment facility, they added.
It may be mentioned here that two days ago all the inmates at Jharpada jail underwent COVID-19 test and 96 were tested positive for COVID-19.
On December 3, the legislator was arrested by Odisha Crime Branch on graft charges and has been lodged in the city jail. Panigrahy landed in trouble in November last year after his would-be son-in-law Akash and his father IFS officer Abhaykant Pathak were nabbed for job fraud and amassing disproportionate assets. Soon after, Panigrahy was expelled from BJD and later arrested on charges of cheating lakhs of rupees from unemployed youths of various areas including Ganjam by promising jobs in Tata Motors..
On November 27, the tainted officer Abhay Kant Pathak, who has been given compulsory retirement by the government recently, and his son Akash Pathak were arrested for acquiring disproportionate assets and cheating individuals.
