Vigilance unearths massive wealth of IFS officer

Bhubaneswar: Vigilance sleuths have unearthed massive wealth accumulated by 1987 batch IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak.

During the course of house search and subsequent enquiry, till now, cash of about Rs 60 lakh have been found. Besides, costly household articles and gold ornaments weighing 800 grams have been found during the search, said a Vigilance statement.

Further documents relating to purchase of gold ornaments worth Rs 23 lakhs have also been found.

It has been ascertained that cash deposits of about Rs 9.4 crores have been made in the bank accounts of his son Akash, out of which about Rs 8.4 crores has been deposited at Bhubaneswar, it said.

Costly vehicles like Mercedes, BMW and Tata Harrier and three costly Yamaha FZ5 motorcycles have been found registered in the name of his son, who has also been hiring costly vehicles on rent.

At the time of search at Pune, three vehicles including two Mercedes were found to have been taken on hire by him. So far, vehicle hiring charges to the tune of Rs.25 lakh approximately has been ascertained.

Similarly, more than Rs.1 crore has been paid towards house rent of the luxury flats and the farm house. 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 crores involving travel from and to cities like Pune, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Juhu, Mumbai, Jamshedpur, Delhi etc. have also been ascertained.

Several teams of Vigilance officials raided the office and residences of Pathak at several places in Odisha, Mumbai, Pune, Bihar and Rajasthan.

Pathak is currently serving as the Additional PCCF, Plan, Program and Afforestation in Odisha.