Odisha: Forest Department clerk, two associates arrested in Rs 65.90 lakh fraud

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance on Sunday arrested a senior clerk of the Forest Department and two of his associates in Dhenkanal district on charges of misappropriating government funds amounting to Rs 65,90,773 over a period spanning 2016 to 2026.

The accused were identified as Sujit Kumar Jena, Senior Clerk at the office of the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Dhenkanal, his associates Soumya Ranjan Behera (a forest department Staff) and Rashmi Ranjan Swain. The agency, in a statement on Sunday, described the arrest of the trio in connection with the Rs 65.90 lakh embezzlement case as a major breakthrough.

According to the official statement, following a comprehensive verification spanning transactions from 2016 to 2026, the Vigilance sleuths unearthed a systematic pattern of fraud. It also added that the investigation revealed that the prime accused, Jena, exploited his administrative access to siphon off public funds into private bank accounts belonging to himself, his family members, and co-conspirators.

“Salaries intended for dismissed and absconding employees, retiring employees' arrear bills, provisional pensions, government allocations meant for establishment pay bills, contingency expenses, staff arrear salaries, and fraudulent Travelling Allowance (T.A.) claims were unlawfully routed out of public funds by Jena,” said the agency.

During the course of the investigation, the police found that Rs 8,72,520 had been transferred to the bank account of Jena’s mother, Rs 10,48,866 to Soumya Ranjan Behera, staff member (Elephant Squad, Sadar Range), and Rs 8,86,193 to close associate Rashmi Ranjan Swain.

“After the crime was exposed, the trio evaded arrest for an extended period. Odisha Vigilance successfully tracked their movements through technical intelligence and mobile location monitoring, resulting in their apprehension,” Odisha Vigilance added.

A case (40/26) has been registered in this regard at the Kataka Vigilance Police Station under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and relevant sections of BNS against the prime accused Jena and his associates, Swain, and Behera. They were forwarded to the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Dhenkanal, on Sunday.

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