Cuttack: Suspended IAS officer and former Dharamgarh Sub-Collector Dhiman Chakma was on Thursday granted conditional bail by the Orissa High Court.
Currently in judicial custody after being arrested by Odisha Vigilance on charges of demanding Rs 20 lakh bribe from a local businessman, Chakma had moved the High Court last month for bail.
Hearing his plea, the High Court conditional granted bail to Chakma on two sureties of Rs five lakh.
Chakma was arrested by Vigilance on charges of demanding Rs 20 lakh bribe from a local businessman, who operates stone crusher units in areas under his jurisdiction. The officer was placed under suspension following his arrest.
The 2021-batch IAS officer was arrested on June 8 evening while allegedly accepting a part instalment of Rs 10 lakh at his official residence at Dharamgarh with an additional Rs 47 lakh in unaccounted cash seized during subsequent searches, and placed under suspension on June 10.
The Special Vigilance court, Bhawanipatna, had earlier rejected his petition, seeking a bail in the case.
Vigilance teams had also conducted searches at his houses in Tripura and Himachal Pradesh as part of its ongoing investigation in connection with a corruption case registered against him. While one team carried out searches at Chakma’s house in north Tripura’s Kanchanpur, two other teams raided his in-laws houses in two districts of Himachal Pradesh – Kullu as well as Lahaul and Spiti unearth the immovable and movable assets Chakma has accumulated in the last few years.
Documents related to his deposits in banks and investments in shares were also scrutinised.
