Bhubaneswar/Keonjhar: Vigilance sleuths on Sunday discovered that a divisional forest officer (DFO) possessed 115 homestead plots, beating the earlier record of 105 plots owned by another corrupt public servant. The anti-corruption wing are currently evaluating the total area and worth of the plots, owned by Nityananda Nayak, who serves as DFO (kendu leaf division) in Keonjhar district. Investigation revealed that Nayak, who has been detained for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets (DA), had registered 53 plots in his name, 42 under his wife’s name, 16 under his two sons’ names, and 4 under his daughter’s name.Vigilance sources said the previous record was held by Pravas Kumar Pradhan, former chief construction engineer of Anandpur barrage project in Keonjhar. He was arrested in Aug 2024 for owning 105 plots (85 in Odisha, 20 in West Bengal), spanning around 15 acres.“All these plots, located in Chhendipada area of Angul district, were acquired between 1992 and 2024 during his various roles as forest range officer, assistant conservator of forests, deputy conservator of forests and divisional forest officer,” a vigilance officer said.The majority of the land deals occurred during 2007 to 2022. He owned two plots during 1992 to 2006, acquired 64 plots between 2007 and 2015 while serving as forest range officer in Nuapada district. As tje ACF at Khariar and Rayagada between 2015 and 2022, he purchased 39 plots. He bought 8 plots during 2022 to 2024 and 2 plots in 2024.Vigilance officers conducting simultaneous searches across Keonjhar, Angul and Nayagarh districts discovered substantial quantities of teak wood furniture, home interiors and decorations belonging to Nayak. They also found several sharp weapons and a firearm at his multi-storey residence in Angul, along with Rs 1.19 lakh in cash and gold jewellery. “We are evaluating his bank deposits and investments,” the vigilance officer said.Nayak began govt service as a forest ranger in Sundargarh district on April 6, 1992. He received promotion to Odisha Forest Service (OFS) as ACF on May 27, 2015. On Jan 24, 2024, he was promoted to DFO.
