Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance on Saturday arrested a forester from Odisha’s Kalahandi district on charges of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Bhagabat Bhusan Behera, who serves as a Forester in the Bhawanipatna Forest Range, was taken into custody following an investigation by the anti-corruption agency. He is set to be produced today before the Court of the Special Judge, Vigilance, in Bhawanipatna.
Earlier searches conducted on Behera’s properties revealed a range of high-value assets that he could not satisfactorily explain. These include a newly constructed multi-storey building, nine valuable land plots, approximately 470 grams of gold, bank and other deposits totalling Rs 34.08 lakh, and several agricultural and heavy vehicles.
Two Kubota harvester machines, four tractors, one Ashok Leyland tipper, one BharatBenz Hyva, and one Bolero vehicle were identified as benami, along with one Toyota car.
A case has been registered at Koraput Vigilance police station against Behera and further investigation is underway.