The Madhya Pradesh lokayukta police raided the houses of a senior forest official in the city and in Ujjain on Wednesday and unearthed assets worth around Rs. 100 crore.
The value of the assets, many of which are in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi city, linked to raided Indian Forest Service
officer Basant Kumar Singh is highly disproportionate to his known sources of income.
“Singh tried to flee from his official residence in Ujjain with a suitcase containing R7.5 lakh and property papers, but was caught,” deputy superintendent of police OP Sagoriya, who led the raiding team at Bhopal, said.
Arun Mishra, lokayukta superintendent of police, Ujjain, said the IFS officer had invested money in five hotels including a five-star facility in Varanasi in his wife and father-in-law’s name.
Investigators found Singh, who hails from Jaunpur in UP, has a petrol pump, a 10,000 sq ft house and a marriage hall in Varanasi. He also has a company — headquarters in Varanasi — in which his wife, son and father-in-law are partners.
According to the SP, Singh has fixed deposits of Rs. 50 lakh, Rs. 25 lakh invested in mutual fund and shares, Rs. 19 lakh in cash, 1 kg gold and 2.5 kg silver.
The raids revealed Singh also owns a farmhouse and large tracts of land in MP. A lokayukta police team will head for Varanasi and Jaunpur shortly.