Finance
By: Shree1news, 29 NOV 2020
The Odisha Government on Friday suspended Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Abhay Kant Pathak from service after he along with his son Akash had been arrested by the anti-corruption vigilance in a disproportionate asset case.
Pathak, presently serving as the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Plan, Program and Afforestation, Odisha, was arrested along with his son Akash Kumar Pathak in reference to the DA case.
The court of the Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar remanded them to judicial custody until 9 December after the rejection of their bail application.
Accordingly, a case below a number of sections of the Prevention of Corruption (Modification) Act, 2018, has been registered towards Pathak and his son.
The 1987 batch IFS officer was present in possession of disproportionate belongings to the tune of ₹9.35 crore past his identified sources of earnings. This quantity was about 435% of the whole earnings from all his identified sources, an official assertion stated.
Since huge money deposits have been made in personal banks by deposit slips and ATM counters and excessive worth transactions have been made within the accounts by the father-son duo, particulars of operations of the banks involved on this regard are being probed, it added.
Details of their earnings tax returns, investments in shares, mutual funds and different market devices are additionally being ascertained by the officers. The points of benami transactions and properties are additionally being seemed into.
Vigilance sleuths conduct simultaneous searches
Before nabbing the IFS officer and his son, vigilance sleuths had made simultaneous searches at 5 locations in Bhubaneswar, seven locations in Mumbai and Pune and one place in Bihar on 25 and 26 November on the energy of search warrants issued by Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar.
In the course of the raids, they recovered ₹50 lakh in money from Abhay Kant Pathak’s nephew, ₹20 lakh from his driver, gold ornaments weighing 800 gm and paperwork regarding buy of gold jewelry price ₹23 lakh, the assertion stated.
Costly automobiles and motorbikes have been discovered registered within the title of his son, the assertion stated.
IFS officer took 20 chartered flights during lockdown
The vigilance sleuths discovered that the officer and his household had made round 20 trips to different cities throughout India by chartered planes at an expenditure of more than ₹3 crore through the lockdown.
Bills price ₹90 lakh at Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, two luxurious flats in Pune, one farm home in Pune taken on lease, Mercedes, BMW and Tata Harrier within the title of Akash Pathak in Bhubaneswar had been additionally discovered.
Based on a report, Pathak’s son Akash was allegedly dishonest individuals of cash, promising to get them jobs at Tata Motors by falsely claiming to be a managing director at Tata Motors. The agency in Could had complained with the CID towards Akash, accusing him of committing cheating, forgery and impersonating because the MD of the corporate.
In view of increasing the scope of the investigation, Odisha Vigilance has fashioned a 20 member Particular Investigation Team for additional interrogations on this case.
