Two Forest officers including DFO arrested for accepting bribe

The two officers were identified as Pranab Kumar Mohanty, DFO, Kendu Leaf Patnagarh and Chitaranjan Dehury, Deputy Range Officer, Kendu Leaf, Gharsien South Range, Patnagarh, in Bolangir district, according to an official statement issued by the vigilance wing.The DFO was allegedly accepting the bribe amount through Dehury for releasing Rs 10.37 lakh spent for repairing of pharies (godown for keeping Kendu Leaf), it said.

The anti-corruption vigilance sleuths of Odisha Police on Wednesday caught two senior officers including a Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1.66 lakh, an official said. The two officers were identified as Pranab Kumar Mohanty, DFO, Kendu Leaf Patnagarh and Chitaranjan Dehury, Deputy Range Officer, Kendu Leaf, Gharsien South Range, Patnagarh, in Bolangir district, according to an official statement issued by the vigilance wing.

The DFO was allegedly accepting the bribe amount through Dehury for releasing Rs 10.37 lakh spent for repairing of pharies (godown for keeping Kendu Leaf), it said. They were caught by the officers of Vigilance, Sambalpur Division, for allegedly demanding and accepting illegal gratification of Rs 1,66,000 from one Jaganath Dash, also a forest department Range Officer, Kendu Leaf Patnagarh Range through Dehury, towards release of Rs 10.37 lakh by the DFO for repairing of phadies (godown for keeping kendu leaf).

The entire money of Rs 1.66 lakh has been recovered, he said. "Both the accused persons have been detained. The official residential quarters of the DFO and Dehury, situated at Patnagarh in Bolangir are being searched," the official said.

Both Mohanty and Dehury were not available for comment as they were detained by the vigilance..