BHUBANESWAR: Five months before his retirement, forester Niranjan Satpathy (59), who had begun his career with a modest salary in 1988, was arrested on December 27 for allegedly accumulating wealth far exceeding his known sources of income.
Posted in Koraput, Satpathy was reportedly found in possession of 1 kg gold, two three-storey buildings in Bhubaneswar, another house in Semiliguda and seven high-value plots across various districts. Vigilance also reportedly seized about Rs 9 lakh in cash, Rs 67 lakh in deposits and insurance investments and Rs 1.6 lakh invested in crypto and foreign currencies.
This, however, was not an isolated case. All good forest protection, management and wildlife conservation initiatives undertaken by the Forest, Environment and Climate Change department in 2025 were overshadowed by a series of illegal gratification cases involving dozens of forest officials at various levels - from divisional forest officers (DFOs) to forest guards - highlighting the rampant and deep-rooted corruption within the department.
A major conservation success for the department this year was the reintroduction of Tigress Zeenat who had escaped from the Similipal landscape after her release in November 2024 as part of the big cat supplementation project in the tiger reserve (TR). It was only after a multi-state tracking exercise which went on for two weeks that the tigress was captured in West Bengal and brought back to Similipal where she resumed her new journey from January 1.
Two months later, conservation efforts led to a record mass nesting of over 15 lakh Olive Ridley turtles at the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary and Rushikulya rookery - two of the state’s most prominent arribada sites.
While the state continued to struggle with an upsurge in forest fires and rising level of human-wildlife conflicts, gharial breeding recorded for the fifth year in a row in Mahanadi reflected the results of focused conservation. All this while, even though conservation milestones were being achieved, corruption cases continued to surface.
In May, five forest officials, including a deputy ranger, were arrested by the Vigilance for allegedly misappropriating `80 lakh under the compensatory afforestation scheme in Kalahandi south division. The accused, including Jaypatna deputy ranger in-charge Sairendri Bag, were charged with diverting plantation funds to bank accounts opened in the names of non-existent labourers, and subsequently withdrawing the money.
However, mid-year, the arrest of divisional forest officer (DFO) Nityananda Nayak stunned the state and became one of the most talked-about cases. Nayak was allegedly found to have amassed 115 plots and other assets worth crores of rupees. Vigilance officials reported that he owned a farmhouse spread over 1.5 acre, a multi-storey building covering 9,000 sq ft, two cars, 200 gram of gold, Rs 10 lakh in cash, bank deposits exceeding Rs 50 lakh and other assets amounting to more than 300 per cent of his known sources of income.
Another major surprise came in July with the arrest of Rama Chandra Nepak, a deputy ranger in Jeypore who was accused of amassing disproportionate assets exceeding 500 per cent of his known income. During searches, Vigilance officials reportedly recovered around 1.5 kg of gold and Rs 1.43 crore in cash hidden in a secret chamber at his residence, along with other assets.
Multiple other incidents involving forest officials and staff being arrested for bribery and corruption continued to surface throughout the year, exposing how they allegedly exploited their positions to accumulate wealth far beyond their legitimate earnings. There were also instances where retired forest employees were convicted for corruption.
In another development, the state government at the end of the year ordered an investigation into the alleged irregularities in the procurement and customisation of vehicles meant for forest field officers. The probe was ordered after it came to fore that 51 Mahindra Thar vehicles had been procured during the 2024-25 fiscal year at a cost of around Rs 7.14 crore while an additional Rs 5.25 crore had been spent on modification of the vehicles.