Overview

• On July 22, Odisha Vigilance detained Divisional Forest Officer Nityananda Nayak on charges of possessing assets disproportionate to his known income and forwarded him to the Special Judge, Vigilance, Keonjhar.
• Simultaneous searches at seven sites in Angul, Keonjhar and Nayagarh districts uncovered 115 land plots linked to Nayak and his immediate family, breaking the state’s previous record of 105 plots in a single case.
• Investigators also seized a four-storey building in Angul, cash reserves, multiple vehicles, gold ornaments, licensed firearms, bladed weapons and rare timber artefacts.
• The Vigilance Technical Wing is conducting a detailed market valuation of all seized properties amid suspicions that their sale deed values were deliberately understated.
• This operation is the latest in a sustained crackdown on Odisha officials who have been found using real estate investments to conceal illicit gains.