June 9th 2025.
Bhawanipatna: It was a shocking revelation when young IAS officer Dhiman Chakma was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from a businessman in Odisha. The incident took place just a day ago and today, the court has remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody.
The Vigilance officials who were investigating the case, found a significant amount of Rs 47 lakh in cash at Chakma's residence in Kalahandi district, during a search on Sunday. The accused was working as the sub-collector of Dharmagarh.
M Radhakrishna, the SP, released a statement that Chakma was presented before the special judge of vigilance in Bhawanipatna, where his bail plea was rejected and he was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. According to the vigilance statement, the 2021 batch IAS officer had threatened a local businessman to take action against him if he did not pay Rs 20 lakh in bribes.
The businessman did not give in to the pressure and instead reported the matter to the Vigilance authorities. This led to a trap being laid on the night of June 8, 2025, where the accused, Dhiman Chakma, was caught red-handed by a team of Odisha Vigilance in his government quarters at Dharamgarh in Kalahandi district. The statement also mentioned that the accused was found in possession of the Rs 10 lakh bribe, which was recovered in the presence of witnesses.
Following this, the department conducted simultaneous searches at Chakma's residential government quarters and his office chamber. The search revealed a shocking amount of Rs 47 lakh in cash from his quarters at Dharamgarh. The SP stated that Chakma was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for such a large sum of money, which was then seized by the authorities.
A case has been registered against the IAS officer under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018. It was later revealed that Chakma had joined the Odisha cadre as an Indian Forest Service officer of the 2019 batch. After completing his training, he was appointed as the additional chief conservator at Baripada in Mayurbhanj in June 2021.
However, he cleared the civil services exam in 2021 and was assigned the Odisha cadre as an IAS officer. After completing his training, he joined as the sub-collector of Dharmagarh, Kalahandi in January 2024. This incident has raised concerns about corruption in the government, and strict action is being taken to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.
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