Fresh trouble for suspended IAS? Complaint to ED seeks probe into Bareilly land deals

In a letter to the Enforcement Directorate, former District Cooperative Federation Limited chairman Mahesh Pandey has accused the IAS officer of patronising four relators involved in anomalies in Bareilly’s Nariyawal village when he was district magistrate there between July 30, 2012 and June 6, 2014.

More complaints about alleged land anomalies have surfaced against suspended senior IAS officer Abhishek Prakash, this time in Bareilly.

ED’s Lucknow unit officials had confirmed on Monday that they had sought relevant documents from Invest UP authorities (Sourced)

Former District Cooperative Federation Limited chairman Mahesh Pandey has written to the Enforcement Directorate, alleging that the officer patronised four relators involved in anomalies of land worth ₹8000 crore in Bareilly’s Nariyawal village when he was the district magistrate there between July 30, 2012, and June 6, 2014.

Pandey, 70, was associated with the Samajwadi Party for long time. Now, he is associated with Bhartiya Janata Party. He remained chairperson of the District Cooperative Federation Limited for 15 years. He opposed alleged land anomalies even when the process was allegedly done between 2012 and 2014.

The current development comes at a time when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has already initiated an investigation in connection with the officer allegedly acquiring disproportionate assets through commission for approving a project in Invest UP. Moreover, the suspended IAS officer’s role has come under the scanner in acquiring land in Bhatgaon village of Sarojininagar tehsil in Lucknow under the Defense Corridor project.

Abhishek Prakash was the CEO of Invest UP from June 7, 2022 to March 20, 2025. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath suspended him on March 20 over allegations of seeking a bribe in approving a solar power plant project and ordered a probe against him. The Lucknow police on March 20 arrested one Nikant Jain, who was supposedly demanding 5% of total cost of the project as commission for approving the project allegedly at behest of the IAS officer.

Now, Pandey, in a letter dated March 27, has urged the Enforcement Directorate to add his allegation against the IAS officer in connection with the Nariyawal village land.

Speaking on the phone, Mahesh Pandey confirmed that he had met ED officials in Delhi on Wednesday, but they sought a written complaint, so he has forwarded it to the ED director. He said the suspended IAS officer was involved in serious land anomalies during his tenure as Bareilly DM and even patronised filling up of 113 ponds to occupy the land and develop a township there. He said the officer even violated agricultural ceiling norms and allowed changing the land use of agricultural land against the norms to benefit realtors.

Earlier, ED’s Lucknow unit officials had confirmed on Monday that they had sought relevant documents from Invest UP authorities and the state government to initiate a disproportionate assets probe against the suspended IAS officer.

The senior IAS officer was unavailable for a clarification about the allegations levelled against him when HT tried to approach him over the phone on Thursday. He did not respond to WhatsApp messages.

Last week, the state government acted against Abhishek Prakash on a complaint lodged by the company, SAEL Solar P6 Private Limited. The state government had stated earlier in a press note that it came to light that Invest UP CEO deliberately recommended re-evaluation of the project without any valid reason.

“Malicious intent of Invest UP CEO Abhishek Prakash, vested interest and unfair financial gain could be the reason for this,” the government press statement said.

“In the case, prima facie Abhishek Prakash has been found responsible. This is a violation of the All India Services (conduct) rules -1968 section -3,” said the government press statement and added, “Abhishek Prakash is being suspended with immediate effect. Further disciplinary action will be taken against him”.

An FIR was lodged at the Gomti Nagar police station against his alleged middleman Nikant Jain for playing the role of a facilitator in executing the project in lieu of a kickback. The FIR was lodged on the complaint of Biswajit Datt, employee of the company, SAEL Solar P6 Private Limited. In the complaint, Datt said that his company wanted to set up a plant in the state for manufacturing parts related to solar plant. For this project, the company submitted online and offline applications at the office of Invest UP and the project was vetted by a committee and was approved. According to the FIR, a senior official of Invest UP asked Datt to contact one Nikant Jain and handed over his cell phone number. When Datt contacted Jain over the phone, he allegedly demanded 5% of the total cost of the project.