DFO, beat officer caught red-handed for bribery in Assam

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 20, 2024

Two forest officials- a divisional forest officer (DFO) and a beat officer were arrested by the sleuths of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption in two separate operations in the state on Thursday.

Senior AFS officer and DFO of Golaghat Social Forestry Division, Jnana Ranjan Das was arrested for receiving Rs 30 thousand as a bribe while the beat officer of Gabharu Forest Beat, Sonitpur, Gopal Deka was caught red-handed when he was accepting a bribe of Rs 4,000 from an individual, police said.

DFO Jnan Ranjan Das has demanded Rs 3 lakh as a bribe from an individual for not cancelling a work order issued in favour of the individual, Later he reduced the amount of the bribe to Rs 11.25 lakh.

“A trap was laid by a team of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption in the official residence of the DFO at Jonaki Nagar in Golaghat town. Das was arrested soon after he accepted Rs 30 thousand as a part of the bribe from the individual,” police said.

“The bribe money was seized from him. A case was registered in ACB police station vide case number 50/2024 under section 7(a) of the p[revention of Corruption Act, 1988,” they said.

On the other hand, the beat officer Gopal Deka had demanded Rs 7,000 from an individual for allowing unhindered movement of his vehicles carrying forest products in Sonitpur district.

“A trap was laid today by a team of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption in the office of the beat officer, Gabharu Forest Beat at Missamari in Sonitpur district. The beat officer was caught red-handed immediately after he accepted Rs 4,000 as part of the demanded bribe from the individual,” police also said.

A case was registered at ACB police station vide case number 49/2024 under section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Notably, Gopal Deka was known for diligently dealing with human-elephant conflict in the Sonitpur district and he has been awarded several times by a local environmental organization for it.