Bhubaneswar, Nov 28 The Odisha Vigilance on Friday arrested senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Abhay Kant Pathak and his son Akash Pathak on the charges of amassing assets worth crores disproportionate to their known sources of income.
Both of them are currently lodged in the Jharapada jail here after a Vigilance court rejected their bail applications.
Hours after the arrest of 1987-batch IFS officer, the state government suspended Pathak, who was serving as the Additional PCCF, Plan, Programme and Afforestation in Odisha.
The Vigilance unearthed lavish lifestyle and massive wealth accumulated by Pathak.
Earlier, the Vigilance officials raided the office and residences of Pathak at several places in Odisha, Mumbai, Pune in Maharashtra, Bihar and at Udaipur in Rajasthan.
Vigilance SP M. Radhakrishna informed that cash deposits of about Rs 9.4 crore have been made in the bank accounts of his son Akash.
Besides, they have made several foreign travels during the last 2-3 years, he said.
Earlier, the Vigilance in a statement had informed that costly vehicles like Mercedes, BMW and Tata Harrier and three costly Yamaha FZ5 motorcycles have been found registered in the name of his son.
Similarly, more than Rs 1 crore has been paid towards house rent of the luxury flats and the farmhouse. Hotel bills of more than 90 lakhs at Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai and advance booking amount of Rs 20 lakh at Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur in Rajasthan have also been paid.
The foreign travel details of tours to Malaysia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Maldives etc. have been obtained.
Charter flight bills worth nearly Rs 3 crore involving travel from and to cities like Pune, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Juhu, Mumbai, Jamshedpur, Delhi etc. have also been ascertained.
On the other hand, the IFS officer denying the allegations said there is no corruption involved and everything is legal.
"I am innocent. The allegations are false. My son's monthly salary was Rs 1 crore and he was maintaining a luxurious lifestyle on his own money," Pathak told reporters.
( With inputs from IANS )
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