India News | ED Seizes BMW Car of Former Odisha Cadre IFS Officer in Money Laundering Case
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A BMW car, valued at Rs 74.22 lakh, belonging to a former Odisha-based Indian Forest Service officer has been seized as part of a money laundering probe against him linked to an alleged disproportionate assets case, the Enforcement Directorate said on Tuesday.
New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) A BMW car, valued at Rs 74.22 lakh, belonging to a former Odisha-based Indian Forest Service officer has been seized as part of a money laundering probe against him linked to an alleged disproportionate assets case, the Enforcement Directorate said on Tuesday.
The action was taken against Abhay Kant Pathak, the 1987-batch IFS officer, who was compulsorily retired by the Union government on recommendation of the Odisha government following registration of a vigilance case over alleged possession of disproportionate assets, against him in November, 2020.
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The probe found that the bureaucrat's son Akash Kumar Pathak was "surreptitiously" trying to sell the luxury car, bearing registration number 'OD07AG7272', to a Belagavi-based dealer of old cars, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.
The seizure has been done under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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The ED case stems from this Odisha vigilance bureau FIR that alleged Pathak "misused his official position and amassed ill-gotten wealth to an extent of Rs 9.35 crore".
The officer last worked as the additional principal chief conservator of forest (plan, programme and afforestation) in the Odisha government.
The agency said, in the statement, that it later found that seven other FIRs and charge sheets were filed by the Odisha Police involving the father-son duo where they were charged for "duping gullible people in the name of providing jobs in Tata Motors".
Searches were carried out by the ED at the officer's house in Bhubaneswar in December, 2021 and it had earlier attached a TATA Harrier car worth Rs 15 lakh and other assets worth Rs 29.83 lakh.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)