In a fresh reminder of the rot that runs through India’s administrative framework, Dhiman Chakma, a 36-year-old IAS officer from the 2021 batch, has been caught red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹10 lakh from a businessman in Odisha’s Kalahandi district. The arrest was made by the Odisha Vigilance Directorate, following a formal complaint that triggered a sting operation.
Chakma, who was posted as the Sub-Collector in Dharamgarh, had allegedly demanded ₹20 lakh in total from a local businessman, threatening him with official harassment and punitive action if he didn’t comply. Feeling cornered and fearing retaliation, the businessman chose to record the demand and approached the Vigilance authorities—an act of courage that ultimately led to Chakma’s downfall.
On the basis of this complaint, the Directorate initiated surveillance and launched a trap. Chakma was nabbed while accepting the first installment of the bribe. A case has now been filed against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and officials have confirmed that a deeper probe is underway to uncover the full extent of the misconduct. His financial records, assets, and earlier postings are all under the scanner.
Promising resume, shocking conduct
Hailing from Kanchanpur in Tripura, Chakma is an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Agartala, where he studied Computer Science. Before cracking the civil services exam and joining the IAS, he had briefly served in the Indian Forest Service (IFS) in Mayurbhanj, Odisha.
His educational and professional credentials had painted him as a high-performing officer with a bright future. Yet, behind that promising façade lay a bureaucrat allegedly neck-deep in greed.
Not an isolated case
Unfortunately, Chakma is not an anomaly. Just earlier this year, IAS officer Abhishek Prakash was suspended in Uttar Pradesh after a probe revealed he demanded a 5% commission to approve a solar energy project. The investigation, initiated after a complaint reached the Chief Minister’s office, found that Prakash had amassed hundreds of croresthrough illegal land deals and luxury properties, including 700 bighas of land and multiple bungalows in Lucknow.
Under Yogi Adityanath’s tenure alone, 11 IAS officers have been suspended for corruption in UP. That’s merely the tip of the iceberg.
From the upper echelons of the IAS to the ground-level bureaucracy—corruption is institutionalized, widespread, and deeply entrenched. Whether it’s an RTO constable caught with assets worth crores, a tainted tehsildar with luxury cars, or high-ranking IAS officers with black money stashes—it paints a grim picture of the Indian state machinery.
The system that betrays merit and public trust
Despite a rigorous UPSC examination process touted as one of the toughest in the world, India’s elite civil service continues to produce not just bureaucrats—but often ‘white-collar extortionists in uniform’. The rot isn’t just moral—it’s systemic. The real question is no longer how these officers get caught, but how so many continue to get away.
Even as some get nabbed by vigilance agencies, the majority continue to operate with impunity, shielded by political patronage, and loophole-ridden laws. Suspension is rare. Conviction is rarer still.
India moves forward but bleeds internally
What’s remarkable—and tragic—is that despite this pervasive corruption, India continues to function, build highways, launch satellites, and grow its economy. But imagine the lost potential. Imagine the number of schools that could have been built, hospitals upgraded, roads repaired—if the nation’s arteries weren’t clogged with graft.
As long as positions of power are seen as license to loot, and not as platforms to serve, the cycle will repeat—Chakma today, someone else tomorrow.
This isn’t just about one rogue officer in Odisha. It’s a wake-up call for a country that’s far too used to waking up and falling asleep again.
