Odisha  Vigilance arrests 4, including Asst Project Director for siphoning off Rs 20L NREGS Fund

The Odisha Vigilance on Thursday apprehended four officers, including the Assistant Project Director of the Watershed Department, on charges of embezzlement of government money over Rs 20 lakh under NREGS.

The arrest was made on the allegations of misappropriation of government funds without excavation of farm ponds under NREGS in the Kashipur block of Rayagada district, following a verification by Odisha Vigilance.

During verification, four accused persons, namely Rajendra Nath Naik, Asst. Project Director- cum- Project Implementing Agency (APD-cum-PIA)( Class-1), Jogendra Khosla, Soil Conservation Overseer, Deepak Kumar Sahoo, Soil Conservation Overseer and Srikumar Nayak, Soil Conservation Extension Worker, all of the office of Project Director( PD), Watershed, Rayagada were found to have embezzled Govt money over Rs 20 Lakhs without excavation of 23 number of  Farm ponds in different villages of Kashipur block in the district of Rayagada. 

The accused officials and staff were also found to have siphoned off the above-mentioned amount to accounts of labourers having job cards and withdrawn the same. Transactions are under verification.

“Further, the number of Farm Ponds is likely to increase as the Ponds are in remote and forest areas of Kashipur Block and the verification is being carried out by Vigilance teams. Hence, today i.e on 22.05.2025, all the accused persons have been apprehended by Odisha Vigilance for siphoning off Govt funds over Rs 20 Lakhs,” a notification by the Vigilance Department read. 

In this connection, Koraput Vigilance PS Case No. 20 dated 21.05.2025 has been registered against all the accused persons. Further probe in the matter is underway.