IFS officer Pathak, son arrested by Vigilance

Bhubaneswar: IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak and his son Akash Pathak have been arrested by the Vigilance on the charges of amassing assets worth crores disproportionate to their known sources of income.

The father-son duo was produced before a special court of the Vigilance.

Pathak, a 1987-batch IFS officer, is currently serving as the Additional PCCF, Plan, Programme and Afforestation in Odisha.

He was under vigilance scanner for leading a lavish lifestyle and amassing massive wealth.

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

During the course of house search and subsequent enquiry, 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, said the official.

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.

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

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.

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.