Disproportionate assets case filed against IAS officer

The CBI has registered a case against a 2000-batch UP cadre IAS officer K Dhanalakshmi Gowda for allegedly amassing assets that were disproportionate to her known sources of income. The CBI has alleged that she was in possession of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 3.15 crore.

The CBI has registered a case against a 2000-batch UP cadre IAS officer K Dhanalakshmi Gowda for allegedly amassing assets that were disproportionate to her known sources of income. The CBI has alleged that she was in possession of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 3.15 crore.

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Gowda was posted as deputy secretary in the ministry of social justice and empowerment. Before her present posting, she also served as private secretary to SM Krishna, the external affairs minister.

"It is understood that the CBI conducted some investigations on Friday, in the apartment of K Dhanlakshmi....The apartment was allotted to her during her brief tenure in the ministry of external affairs' office. This ministry has no further details in the matter,' said MEA spokesperson Vishnu Prakash.

After registering the case against Gowda, the probe agency conducted searches at four places in Delhi and Bangalore. Investigators are now scrutinising documents seized during the searches.

"It is alleged that she, while working as a public servant, acquired huge assets both immovable and movable in her name as well as in the name of her mother (a housewife)," said CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra.

The probe agency alleged that most of these assets have been acquired as benami properties in the name of her mother.

According to sources, Gowda had come under the CBI scanner in February this year when a scam in the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) was unearthed. She had also served in the UPSIDC before coming to Delhi on central deputation.