LUCKNOW/BENGALURU: A day after the mysterious death of IAS officer Anurag Tiwari, Uttar Pradesh police have set up a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident. The SIT has three days to submit its report.
On Thursday, it also came to light that Anurag, who was posted as food commissioner in Bengaluru, had been denied leave.
On Wednesday, Food and Civil Supplies Minister UT Khader said that Anurag was granted leave. Anurag had applied for leave from May 8-18. It turns out the application was rejected by the Chief Secretary’s office on May 11. However, government officials said granting or rejecting leave was an administrative matter. They added that Anurag also held additional responsibility as director of the state food supply corporation. Added to this, Harsh Gupta, who had been the Secretary, was transferred last month and no one had replaced him yet.
Anurag was found lying dead on the road in Lucknow on Wednesday morning. The doctors who conducted the autopsy said prima facie the cause of death pointed to asphyxia.
Anurag’s family has cried murder and alleged that he was harassed as he was about to expose a Rs 2,000 crore scam in Karnataka. Senior officers in Karnataka and the food and civil supplies department have denied knowledge of any scam.