Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance has deputed three teams to Tripura and Himanchal Pradesh to conduct searches at places linked to IAS officer Dhiman Chakma, who was arrested in a bribery case on June 9.

The teams have conducted verification and searches at the residential house of Chakma at Kanchanpur in North Tripura and the houses of his in-laws at Saminala under Manali police station in Kullu district and at Rangbey under Keylong police station in Lahole-Spitti district of Himanchal Pradesh, said the Vigilance in a statement today.

The teams conducted the searches on the basis of warrants issued by the Special Vigilance Judge at Bhawanipatna.  

“Relevant documents related to deposits and investments in banks and other financial instruments are being collected and scrutinized. Details of other movable and immovable assets are being ascertained from DA angle. The searches as still going on,” added the Vigilance.

It is worth mentioning here that Chakma, a 2021-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, was caught red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from a businessman on June 8. He was the Sub-Collector of Dharmagarh in Kalahandi district.

The IAS officer had sought Rs 20 lakh as bribe from the businessman by threatening him with government action on his business establishments. The businessman had lodged a complaint in this regard with the Vigilance Department.

The Vigilance sleuths caught the IAS offer while he was accepting Rs 10 lakh as bribe from the complainant at his official residence at Dharmagarh.

The officials also recovered Rs 47 lakh more in cash during searches at the IAS officer’s official residence. Subsequently, the IAS officer was arrested and suspended from service.