Bhubaneswar: Tainted IFS officer Abhay Pathak and his son Akash Pathak are currently lodged in the Jharapada jail here after a Vigilance court rejected their bail applications. 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.
Pathak father and son duo spent night at Jharpada Jail in Bhubaneswar. Though on Friday they had consumed the food they had brought from their home, today they had their breakfast given by the jail. While a SIT team has been created to probe the case, Vigilance may take them on remand. They have been kept in the COVID isolation ward of Jharpada jail. They have been sent to judicial custody till December 9.
A 20 member SIT team has been constructed in this matter. The lavish bed that Abhay was using allegedly fitted with ivory. If that is true, the duo will also have to face charges as prescribed by the Wildlife Protection Act in addition to the present charges.
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.
Despite our best effort, we are yet to get reaction of the two accused persons.
Another fact has also surfaced that when Abhay Pathak had been appointed inKoraput, a girl had lodged a case of outraging modesty against him.
(With inputs from IANS)
Ms Kalinga