Bhubaneswar, Sep 16 - The Orissa government Wednesday placed under suspension an official of the state mines department in a case of illegal mining in the Keonjhar district, an official said.

The official, R.N. Sahoo, is the sixth person of the mines department to be placed under suspension after a vigilance inquiry found evidence of illegal mining in 36 hectares of area in the district.

The vigilance department last month arrested eight people, among them mining and forest department officials and a mine owner, for their involvement in illegal mining.

The vigilance department had earlier summoned Sahoo for questioning, but he surrendered before a court and obtained bail.

'He took anticipatory bail from the court and went on leave. He never comes to us,' Anup Kumar Patnaik, a director of the state vigilance department, told IANS.