Odisha IFS officer Abhay Pathak, who is facing a large-scale vigilance raid for massive amounts of his disproportionate assets spread across Bhubaneswar, Pune and Patna, has claimed that his son earns a salary of Rs 1 crore per month.
According to the reports, Dr Abhay Kant Pathak, the 1987-batch IFS officer, who was raided by the sleuths of Vigilance Directorate of Odisha on Wednesday over disproportionate assets and unimaginable wealth has said that allegations against him are false. Pathak claimed that his son earned a salary of Rs 1 crore from his employers and not through any corrupt means.
“My son Akash earns a monthly salary of Rs 1 Crore from his employers and not through any corrupt means. The allegations against him are false and fabricated,” said Pathak to the vigilance officials while he was taken to the Capital Hospital for undergoing medical check-up on Friday.
The Vigilance officers had brought Akash to Bhubaneswar from Mumbai for questioning on Thursday in connection with the disproportionate assets case probe launched against his father.
“The allegations against me are false. This is a vindictive action and everything will be proved in the court,” said Akash after he was brought back to Bhubaneshwar.
It is also being reported that both the father and son will soon be arrested by the Vigilance department.
Odisha Vigilance department raids IFS officer Abhay Pathak
On Thursday, the Odisha Vigilance department carried out massive raids against Dr Abhay Kant Pathak which discovered that Pathak has accumulated unimaginable wealth over the years.
More than 150 officers and staff of various divisions of Vigilance Directorate of Odisha simultaneously raided five places in Bhubaneshwar, seven places in Mumbai and Pune, and some regions of Bihar and Rajasthan in the last few days.
Since June 2018, Pathak is serving as Additional PCCF Plan Programme and Afforestation at the office of PCCF, Odisha. The investigation agencies have not revealed the exact amount of disproportionate assets as the investigation is still underway.
Abhay Pathak led a lavish life, travelled in chartered plane
The vigilance officers have seized a considerable amount of cash and other incriminating documents. During the raid at Pathak’s house, the Vigilance department had found evidence of cash deposits amounting to Rs 9.4 crore in the bank accounts of Pathak’s son Akash. The Vigilance officials said that Rs 60 lakh cash was recovered during the searches.
Addition to the cash, gold ornaments weighing 800 grams was also found during the searches. The anti-corruption wing has also found documents related to purchase of gold ornaments worth Rs 23 lakh by Pathak’s family.
“Details of his assets and their value would be known after everything is collated,” an officer added. The reports suggested that a central agency had alerted the Odisha government that Pathak and his family had air travelled at least 20 times to Mumbai, Delhi, Patna, and Pune during the lockdown and post-lockdown period.
Another detailed report by Odia daily Sambad stated that the Pathak family had hired chartered planes for the 20 trips taken during the lockdown period and have spent upwards Rs 4.5 crores on the flights alone. The chartered planes reportedly belong to a private company named Kalinga Aero and Allied Services Pvt Ltd.
The report also states that in the simultaneous raids, bills for hotel bookings, lavish banquet halls and other luxuries worth over Rs 2 crores have been recovered so far from the IFS officer’s residential properties in Bhubaneswar. The officials also found out that more than Rs.1 crore was paid towards the rent of some luxury apartments and a farmhouse.
The vigilance officials also recovered bills of more than 90 lakhs paid at Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai and advance booking amount of Rs.20 lakh at Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur in Rajasthan. The lavish apartment building at Bhubaneswar had Italian marble flooring, ivory furniture and other luxuries. The Pathak family also owns several high-end luxury cars and had hired private security with expensive salaries for personal bodyguards.
Foreign travel details of tours to Malaysia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Maldives etc. have also been obtained, the official said. The amount of the cash, jewellery, bills, expensive furniture, furnishings and financial documents found in the raid is so vast that the vigilance department has reportedly hired CAs and interior designers to estimate their total value.
Son is accused in forgery case
Pathak’s son Akash had been named in a crime branch FIR in May for alleged forgery and fraud. Tata Motors had filed an FIR alleging that Akash has been pretending to be an MD at the company and cheating people, promising them jobs. The police’s inaction to act on the FIR has drawn criticism after the vigilance raids were highlighted in the media.