‘High-flying’ IFS officer Abhay Pathak, son Akash arrested
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Friday suspended Abhay Kant Pathak from service, hours after the anti-corruption wing arrested the 1987 batch Indian Forest Service officer along with his son Akash on charges of accumulating massive “ill-gotten” wealth.
At the end of two days of cross-country search operation, the officer’s disproportionate earnings were calculated at Rs 9.35 crore, about 435 per cent of known sources of his income.A case under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 has been registered against the IFS officer and his son. Vigilance sleuths are verifying if there were ‘benami’ transactions and purchase of property.
The anti-corruption wing said huge cash deposits were made in private banks through deposit slips and ATM counters. “Since high value transactions have been made in the accounts, details of operations of the banks concerned are being probed,” said an officer.
The Pathaks were found to have splurged huge amounts, running into at least Rs 3 crore, as per the Vigilance, on charter flights which they used at least 20 times during the lockdown. As bookings and payments were made through Bhubaneswar-based travel agencies, their role is also being investigated by Vigilance. Besides, details of income tax returns, investments in shares, mutual funds and other market instruments are being ascertained.
The Vigilance also constituted a 20-member Special Investigation Team to thoroughly investigate all aspects of the case. Services of cyber and cell phone forensic experts are being requisitioned by the agency for retrieving mobile and computer related data from the seized devices.
After their arrest, the father-son duo was produced before Court of Special Judge (Vigilance) in Bhubaneswar and remanded in judicial custody till December 9. The IFS officer told TV channels that his son, by virtue of his position in a private company, was getting a salary of Rs 1 crore and that none of the wealth was ill-gotten.
Abhay was posted as Additional PCCF, Plan Programme and Afforestation since June 2, 2018. His son had donated Rs 5 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund in April allegedly posing as MD of Tata Motor’s Transport Division. Following a complaint from Tata Motors, Crime Branch is investigating him too.