​​​​​​​Jagatsinghpur, Dec 21: The Odisha Vigilance on Sunday arrested the Forest Ranger Rahama in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur on corruption and DA charges.

After recovery of a huge cache of DA amassed illegally, the forest official was remanded to judicial custody by the Cuttack Vigilance.

The tainted forest official has been identified as Rajendra Kumar Samantaray.

Samantaray, came in the soup after a team of Vigilance conducted surprise raids on the Range Officer’s residence and three other locations linked to him on Saturday and spotted massive assets.

During the operation, officials reportedly seized 200 grams of gold, cash of Rs 3.5 lakh, important documents, bank passbooks, ATM cards, and gold jewelry. Two plots in Jagatsinghpur and one in Cuttack were also attached. Additionally, deposits exceeding Rs 50 lakh in various banks were frozen. The total estimated value of movable and immovable assets is over Rs 3 crore.

Following the raids, Samantaray was taken to Cuttack for further questioning who was later declared arrest under different Sections of Corruption.

Worth, mentioning Samantaray who began his service from a Forestor with a meager salary has allegedly amassed huge ill-got properties during almost 2.5 years of Rangership.