Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday appointed former and senior BJD leader Raghunath Mohanty as the chairman of Odisha Lift Irrigation Corporation (OLIC). Mohanty has been accorded the rank of cabinet minister.

Mohanty, who was suspended from the party, was taken back into the party fold in March this year as the party’s vice president and made observer for Dhenkanal district.

The five-time MLA from Basta constituency in Balasore district Mohanty was  arrested in a dowry torture case slapped by his daughter-in-law Barsa Swony Choudhury.