LS speaker secy raided, sacked

After booking Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's secretary AP Pathak for allegedly owning assets disproportionate to his income, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday conducted searches at his residence and seven of his properties located in seven cities including Delhi and Gurgaon.

After booking Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's secretary AP Pathak for allegedly owning assets disproportionate to his income, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday conducted searches at his residence and seven of his properties located in seven cities including Delhi and Gurgaon.

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Hours after the agency conducted raids at Pathak's properties, he was "removed with immediate effect" from the Lok Sabha's Speaker's Office, according to Rakhee Bakshee, media advisor to Kumar.

"Pathak had joined the office of Speaker, Lok Sabha, after due clearance by the parent ministry of road transport and highways three months back in June," according to Bakshee.

The CBI on Friday lodged a FIR against Pathak based on a complaint by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) forwarded a month ago.

According the complaint, he allegedly amassed disproportionate wealth during his stint last year in the ministry of finance as director, conservation of Foreign Exchange & Prevention Of Smuggling Activities, said an agency source.

Pathak was booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. A senior technocrat, Pathak belonged to the engineering wing of the central ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

The properties searched by the CBI allegedly included "a flat each in south Delhi's Anand Niketan, Satya Niketan and Dwarka, a flat in Gurgaon, three properties in Patna and a property in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh".

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