Bhubaneswar: The Odisha vigilance team investigating into the disproportionate assets case against senior IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak is interrogating the father-son duo face to face at the Vigilance Cell Bhubaneswar. They were taken to the Cell yesterday night by the interrogators. Pathak’s son Akash was brought to Bhubaneswar from Pune in connection with the case. Along with them, Abhay’s Nephew Harsh Pathak and their driver are also being interrogated by the investigators. Senior vigilance officials long with Police, are interrogating the four. Abhay and Akash are likely to be arrested by the anti-corruption body and produced before the court today.
In the last two days of searches and raids, the Odisha Vigilance teams have found massive amounts of unaccounted money from IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak and his son Akash Pathak.
Simultaneous searches were conducted at 5 places in Bhubaneswar, 7 places at Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra and 1 place in Bihar by officers of the Vigilance Cell on Wednesday and Thursday in which around 150 officers and staff from different divisions of Odisha Vigilance and witnesses were mobilized.
Searches were carried out at his official residence, office, flat of Sri Abhay Kant Pathak at Bhubaneswar, flat of his relative at Vipul Garden, Bhubaneswar, house of driver at Pipili, house at native village in Bishnupur in Bihar, two luxury flats at at Pune and farm house in Hill Town Area, Pune.
Besides, simultaneous verifications at other places were also made at Bhubaneswar, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra and Udaipur in Rajasthan, which are still continuing.
During the course of house search and subsequent enquiry, cash of about Rs 60 lakhs have been found. Besides, costly household articles and gold ornaments weighing 800 grams have been found during the searches. Further documents relating to purchase of gold ornaments worth Rs 23 lakhs have also been found.
It has been ascertained that cash deposits of about Rs 9.4 crores have been made in the bank accounts of his son, out of which about Rs 8.4 crores has been deposited at Bhubaneswar.
The huge money deposits have been mostly made through ATMS at Saheed Nagar and Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar. Costly vehicles like Mercedes, BMW and Tata Harrier and three costly Yamaha FZS motorcycles have been found registered in the name of his son, who has also been hiring costly vehicles on rent. At the time of search at Pune, three vehicles including two Mercedes were found to have been taken on hire by him. So far, vehicle hiring charges to the tune of Rs.25 lakhs approximately has been ascertained. Similarly, more than Rs.1 crore has been paid towards house rent of the luxury flats and the farm house, Hotel bills of more than 90 lakhs at Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai and advance booking amount of Rs.20 lakhs at Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur in Rajasthan have also been paid.
The foreign travel details of tours to Malaysia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Maldives etc., have been obtained, Charter flight bills worth nearly 3 crores involving travel from and to cities like Pune, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Juhu, Mumbai, Jamshedpur, Delhi etc., have also been ascertained. Teams consisting of Chartered Accountant, Bank Officer and officers of Cyber Cell and Document Examination Cell are assisting in the house search and verification operations.