BHOPAL: A Class III employee of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) Aslam Khan, who presently draws a monthly salary of just Rs 18,000, has turned out to be a man of crores.
Multiple teams of Madhya Pradesh’s anti-corruption watchdog Lokayukta special police establishment started raids at five residential premises of Khan and brothers in Indore on Monday.
The raids which started early in the morning and were continuing till the filing of this news report have led the anti-corruption sleuths to undisclosed assets worth several crores of rupees, which were several times disproportionate to Khan’s known sources of income.
The search at the five houses of Khan and his brothers, which are being carried out under supervision of SP (Lokayukta Indore) Dilip Soni have so far led the raiding teams to documents of at least 25 more properties (residential and commercial) in various parts of Indore (including Mhow town) and adjoining Dewas district.
The 25 properties whose documents have been seized are in addition to the five big houses owned by Khan and his brothers in Manikbag area of Indore.
The raids have also led to the seizure of Rs 25 lakh-plus cash, gold jewellery worth around Rs 70 lakh, including 11 gold biscuits and three luxury vehicles. During the raid he-goats worth Rs 5 lakh in the market too have been found in Khan and kin’s houses.
According to sources associated with the raiding teams, Khan joined the IMC in 1998 as a Class III employee with the starting salary of just Rs 600 per month. He is presently posted as a beldar (grounds man) and draws a monthly salary of Rs 18,000.
“The net income drawn by Khan during the last 20 years of service as salary is to the tune of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh, but the actual worth of assets and documents of properties seized from his and brothers’ house runs into crores of rupees,” said a Lokayukta Indore source.
Most of properties whose documents have been seized from Khan’s house are owned in the name of his wife.
While being posted in the encroachment removal and map clearance wings of IMC, Khan is believed to have developed contacts with many influential people in Indore and neighbourhood. Sustained investigations by the anti-corruption sleuths into the matter are likely to blow the lid off the influential contacts that Khan enjoys presently.