The anti-corruption Vigilance Wing of the Odisha Police on Tuesday arrested five forest personnel in Kalahandi district on the charge of embezzling around Rs 80 lakh earmarked under the “Compensatory Afforestation Scheme”.

The corrupt functionaries connived to misappropriate the funds while the plantation work was shown on pen and paper only. It was a brazen laundering of money from the state exchequer as no plantation was undertaken despite the sanction of grants, said an official of the Vigilance Directorate.

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“Based on credible inputs regarding large-scale misappropriation of government funds under the “Compensatory Afforestation Scheme” in Jaypatana Range of Kalahandi, South Forest Division, a Vigilance inquiry was initiated to verify the plantation under the scheme. Four teams comprising 25 Officers of Odisha Vigilance conducted a thorough enumeration of the plantation sites under the Jaypatana Range. During the enumeration, a huge shortfall in plantation and misappropriation to the tune of Rs 80 lakh was detected,” the Vigilance said in a statement.

The inquiry also revealed that the plantation funds were diverted to several fictitious labour accounts, withdrawn shortly thereafter, and misappropriated, it further said.

Following the inquiry, prima facie evidence was established against the forest officials. Those accused of misappropriating government grants for the plantation are Sairendri Bag, Deputy Range Officer, Jaypatana Range; Umesh Rout, Forester; Debraj Sunani, Forester; Ashok Kumar Sahu, Forest Guard; and Lalit Naik, Forest Guard, all of Jaypatana Range. They were arrested for connivance in the misappropriation of huge government money amounting to Rs 79,54,635 by not carrying out plantation and falsification of records in the plantation work during the financial year 2023-24.

All the accused forest personnel were remanded in jail custody after a Special Judge Court in Bhawanipatna rejected their bail applications.