Bhubaneswar: A day after 2021-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer Dhiman Chakma was caught taking Rs 10 lakh bribe, Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari on Monday reiterated the Odisha government’s zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and warned corrupt public servants of stringent action.
“The campaign has begun, and no one — absolutely no one — will be spared. This is a matter of principle and public trust. Wherever corruption exists — in any department or at any level — action will be taken,” he asserted.
Pujari also urged people not to entertain any official who demands a bribe and to help the administration nab them.
From grassroots-level government organisations to high offices, corruption has been rampant in Odisha for decades. It’s no secret that a government job in the eastern state is lucrative; not only because of the emoluments but also the ‘under the table’ income. Those serving at the top echelons of the bureaucracy are expected to be above graft and act as role models, but often it’s not the case. While most of the corrupt go scot-free due to inadequate action and lack of accountability, some have not been that lucky and got caught by investigating agencies. Dhiman Chakma being the latest.
Also Read: Who Is Dhiman Chakma? IAS Officer Arrested For Taking Rs 10 Lakh Bribe In Odisha
The 2021-batch officer, serving as a sub-collector, was caught red-handed by Vigilance sleuths on Sunday while accepting Rs 10 lakh bribe from a businessman at his official government residence at Dharamgarh in Kalahandi district. It was an instalment of the overall demand of Rs 20 lakh bribe. Another Rs 47 lakh unaccounted cash was recovered during a subsequent raid at his residence. He was arrested on Monday.
Here are a few other high-profile cases involving direct recruit IAS officers of Odisha cadre, which have put the premium service holders under the lens:
Jail Term For Corruption
In December 2024, the Special Court (Vigilance) in Bhubaneswar convicted retired IAS officer Ramesh Chandra Behera for possessing assets worth Rs 3.48 lakh, disproportionate to his known income sources. He was sentenced to 20 months of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 34,000.
A disproportionate assets case was registered against Behera on May 12, 1990, when he was Director in the Housing and Urban Development department. Raids were conducted at his official residence in Forest Park, his in-laws’ house in Balasore, and his office.
Behera applied for voluntary retirement in December 2008, but due to the pending corruption charges, the state government deferred his request and assigned him as an officer without duty. He retired in 2010.
However, it took nearly 21 years for the government to confiscate the properties and a farmhouse, belonging to Behera, was turned into a nursery-cum-training centre for local farmers in Ganjam district in 2011.
Financial Bungling
In March 2004, senior IAS officer Prafulla Chandra Mishra was arrested and sent to jail for alleged financial bungling running into several crores of rupees and administrative irregularities during his 13-month stint as chairman-cum-managing director of the state-run Orissa State Beverage Corporation (OSBC) from November 2000. In one of the three cases slapped against him, he was accused of showing undue favours to suppliers causing a loss of Rs 14.33 crore to the state exchequer. In the second, he and his subordinate officers, had allegedly favoured the manufacturers to the tune of Rs 18.34 crore by not constituting a price fixation committee and accepting the price offered by them to derive pecuniary advantage The third pertained to purchase of computers at a higher rate from a private company.
The chargesheet, in connection with the case filed against Mishra for showing undue favour to a liquor manufacturer and suppliers by printing excise adhesive labels in 2002-03, was filed in December 2009.
In 2013, the 1982-batch officer was denied a promotion as vigilance was yet to submit a final report on the corruption.
Suspended & Reinstated
In December 2019, the state government suspended director of the State Horticulture Directorate, Bijay Ketan Upadhyay, an IAS officer, after he was accused of demanding a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a farm implement manufacturing company through a private bank executive who was allegedly acting as a conduit.
The company was empanelled by the state government to supply sprinklers to eligible farmers under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).
The Vigilance sleuths had trapped the relationship manager of a private bank while accepting Rs 1 lakh on behalf of the 2009-batch IAS officer, towards releasing the firm’s bill of Rs 50 lakh. He was sent to Jharpada Jail after the Special Vigilance Court rejected his bail plea. He was later released on February 4, 2020, a day after being granted conditional bail by the Orissa High Court.
Subsequent investigation by Vigilance revealed that he had allegedly deposited around Rs 70 lakh in three banks between 2012 and 2019. Of these, around Rs 22 lakh was made during his tenure as Director of Horticulture.
However a year later, the government revoked his suspension and reinstated him as Secretary, Board of Revenue.
Upadhyaya had secured fifth rank in the 2008 UPSC Civil Services Examination. He is currently serving as the Director of the Odia Language, Literature & Culture Department.
Slapped With 27 Graft Cases
In March 2025, former Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) Managing Director (MD) Vinod Kumar was convicted for the eleventh time in a corruption case. The Special Vigilance Court in Bhubaneswar sentenced him and six others to three years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each for misappropriating funds.
The 1989-batch IAS officer is one of the key accused in the multi-crore rural housing scam. He had allegedly sanctioned housing funds to the tune of Rs 33.34 crore through unfair means when rural housing was taken up in a big scale after the 1999 Super Cyclone. He was also accused of granting loans to real estate firms/contractors and NGOs without obtaining adequate collateral and proper scrutiny during his tenure at the corporation in 2000-01.
A total of 27 graft cases, ranging from undue official favour to misappropriation of public funds, were slapped against him. He was dismissed from service in February 2022 after being convicted in two corruption cases.
CBI Summon Over Bribery Case
On December 10, 2024, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summoned senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi, in an alleged bribery case involving a high-ranking official of the Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited.
“It is learnt that you are acquainted with some important and relevant facts as well as the circumstances of this case and these required to be ascertained from you,” the notice issued by the investigating officer of CBI’s Anti-Corruption-II in New Delhi said.
This came three days after group general manager of the central PSU, Chanchal Mukherjee, was apprehended by CBI sleuths near a hotel in the Jayadev Vihar area of the city while allegedly taking Rs 10 lakh bribe from the director of a Bhubaneswar-based company M/s Penta A Studio Private Ltd and a middle-man identified as Debadutta Mohapatra.
The CBI also interrogated Sethi’s three drivers in connection with the case.
Following the summon, the 1995-batch officer was shunted out of three departments he was heading. Sethi, who was in-charge of social security and empowerment of persons with disabilities department, ST&SC development department, and Odisha language department, was posted as officer on Special Duty (OSD) of the general administration and public grievance department, a seemingly insignificant posting.
Two months later, a handwritten resignation letter to Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja surfaced on social media in which Sethi attributed his decision to denial of promotion. The purported letter mentioned that his batchmate Hemant Sharma was recently promoted to the rank of additional chief secretary in the state government, while he was overlooked. This came hours before a CBI team raided his residence here.
However, there has been no confirmation on it yet.
