Dhiman Chakma, a 2021 batch IAS officer, who is posted as sub-collector of Dharamgarh in Kalahandi district of Odisha, was caught red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from a businessman.
Chakma had allegedly demanded the bribe amount with a threat to shut down the businessman's crusher unit if he did not oblige.
He had reportedly demanded a total of Rs 20 lakh as bribe and asked the businessman to pay him Rs 10 lakh as first installment. The crusher unit owner had then approached the anti-corruption agency and lodged a complaint against Chakma.
The anti-corruption agency's officers laid a trap and caught Chakma red-handed while accepting the bribe in his government quarters in Dharamgarh. They recovered 26 bundles of different denomination currency notes like Rs 200 and Rs 500 which he had kept inside his table's drawer.
Vigilance officers then conducted searches at his quarters and recovered additional cash amounting to Rs 47 lakh. A case has been registered and he is being questioned on the source of the cash.
Who is Dhiman Chakma?
A native of Kanchanpur in Tripura, Dhiman was the first from his family and hometown to clear the UPSC Civil Services Examination in 2020.
He secured an All India Rank of 482 on his final attempt while already serving as an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer.
Before that, in 2019, he had cleared the UPSC with a rank of 722.
In an interview in 2021, Chakma had expressed a deep desire to work in the field of education.
“There is almost negligible participation of students from Tripura when it comes to UPSC Civil Services,” he had said.
“Now, as an administrative officer, I would like to focus on issues concerning education in Tripura. Students need to be apprised through various talk sessions and discussions,” he said.
A graduate in Computer Science from NIT Agartala, Dhiman often spoke about the challenges of balancing work with UPSC preparation.
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