Odisha: Vigilance arrests five Forest Dept officials for fund embezzlement

Bhubaneswar, May 13 The Odisha Vigilance arrested five Forest Department officials for misappropriation of funds to the tune of around Rs 80 lakhs under the ‘Compensatory Afforestation Scheme’ in Kalahandi South Forest Division during the 2023-2024 financial year, an official said on Tuesday.

The accused officials were identified as Sairendri Bag, Deputy Ranger, In-charge of Jaypatana Range, Umesh Rout (Forester), Debraj Sunani (Forester), Ashok Kumar Sahu (Forest Guard) and Lalit Naik (Forest Guard) of the Jaypatana Range of Kalahandi South Forest Division.

“Based on credible inputs regarding large-scale misappropriation of government funds under ‘Compensatory Afforestation Scheme’ in Jaypatana Range of Kalahandi, South Forest Division, a Vigilance enquiry was taken up for verification of plantation under the above scheme, by four teams comprising 25 Officers of Odisha Vigilance,” the official further added.

The vigilance sources also claimed that the sleuths, during a thorough analysis of different plantation sites at Champachuan and Khamarpadar under Jaypatana Range, have found a huge shortfall in plantation and embezzlement of government funds worth several lakhs under the scheme.

“Enquiry also revealed that the plantation funds were diverted to a number of fictitious labour accounts and withdrawn shortly thereafter, and misappropriated,” stated the vigilance.

The anti-corruption wing of the Odisha government also noted that, prima facie, the accusation against the five accused Forest Department officials was well-founded on the basis of the evidence that came to light during the inquiry.

On Monday, a case was registered against the accused officials under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act for misappropriating huge public money amounting to Rs 79,54,635 by not carrying out plantation and fabricating official records related to the said plantation work during the financial year 2023-24.

Subsequently, the accused were arrested on Tuesday and forwarded to the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhawanipatna.

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