Bhawanipatna, May 13: While the Odisha government is adopting a zero-tolerance policy against corruption, five forest officials were arrested on Tuesday by Odisha Vigilance for allegedly embezzling government funds worth 80 lakh, earmarked for compensatory afforestation.
Following a vigilance inquiry by 4 teams comprising 25 Officers, 5 forest officials including the Jayapatana Range officer,were found involved in the irregularity.
The enquiry revealed that the plantation funds were diverted to a number of fictitious labour accounts and withdrawn shortly thereafter, and misappropriated.
The accused officials were identified as Sairendri Bag, Dy. Ranger, In-charge Jaypatana Range, Umesh Rout, Forester, Debraj Sunani, Forester, Ashok Kumar Sahu, Forest Guard, Lalit Naik, Forest Guard, all of the Jaypatana Forest Range.
The accused persons will be sent to judicial remand to the Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhawanipatna. Efforts are on to verify involvement of others, said a vigilance official.
