BHUBANESWAR: Vigilance on Wednesday carried out searches at arrested IAS officer Dhiman Chakma’s houses in Tripura and Himachal Pradesh as part of its ongoing investigation in connection with a corruption case registered against him.
The anti-corruption agency had caught Chakma, who was posted as the sub-collector of Dharamgarh in Kalahandi district, red-handed while accepting `10 lakh bribe from a crusher unit owner on June 8 evening.
Three teams of Vigilance have been deputed in Tripura and HP to raid the houses of the 2021 batch IAS officer and his in-laws. Vigilance sources said while one team carried out searches at Chakma’s house in north Tripura’s Kanchanpur, two other teams raided his in-laws houses in two districts of Himachal Pradesh - Kullu as well as Lahaul and Spiti.
They added that in the event a government official is nabbed for accepting bribe, searches are conducted at his/her property to ascertain whether they have amassed disproportionate assets through the illegal wealth.
“Apart from Rs 10 lakh bribe, additional Rs 47 lakh cash had been seized from Chakma’s government quarters in Dharamgarh. It is not being ruled out that the entire money seized from him could be bribes collected from different persons,” said a Vigilance officer.
During searches in Tripura and Himachal, an investigation will be carried out to unearth the immovable and movable assets Chakma has accumulated in the last few years. Documents related to his deposits in banks and investments in shares, if any, are being collected and scrutinised, said sources.