ACB raids 9 Chg officials, unearths assets worth crores

Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths today raided residences of nine officials of state government and unearthed properties worth crores that are suspected to be unaccounted for.
During the raid, ACB found cash worth Rs 21 lakh hidden in bathroom of an officer at Baikunthpur in Koria district.
The raids were conducted simultaneously, senior ACB officials said.
During the raid at the residence of Ghulam Mohammad Khan, a Food Officer retired in 2015, the ACB found documents showing a three-storey house worth Rs 25 lakh, and ownership of plots of land in name of his wife, daughter and himself at various places. The collective value of these properties runs into lakhs.

The ACB seized cash worth Rs 3.55 lakh during the raid at the place of Umashankar Ram, currently posted as Executive Engineer in Water Resources department in Baikunthpur. The sleuths recovered documents showing land worth Rs 1.5 crore, a farm house on 50 acres and gold ornaments besides silver.
During the raid on the house of N K Dwivedi, Education Officer, Raigarh, ACB seized cash worth Rs 50,000 and also recovered documents showing a house and land worth Rs 2 crore.

ACB also raided the residence of Anand Pandey, Project Officer, Bilaspur Panchayat, and found documents showing properties including a house worth Rs 60 lakh, a coaching centre, a college and a school. The sleuths also suspect that the officer owns many vehicles, including ten mini buses.

The raid was also conducted at the place of Arjun Lal Yadav, Assistant Manager at Markfed, in Janjgir wherein cash worth Rs 1.50 lakh was recovered while documents showing properties like a house worth Rs 30 lakh, a truck, a tractor besides land registered in name of wife and son were found. The sleuths also found gold ornaments worth Rs 5 lakh each in name of his wife and son.
During the raid at the place of Patwari Mithilesh Pande, ACB seized cash worth Rs 1.75 lakh besides 30 'tolas' gold. The agency found properties, including a house worth more than Rs 2 crore and around 10-15 plots of land.

The ACB found documents of properties, including three flats worth Rs 50 lakh, a house worth Rs 60 lakh and land during the raid on G R Dewangan, Deputy Engineer of Water Resources department in Rajnandgaon.
ACB sleuths recovered cash worth more than Rs 21 lakh hidden in bathroom of SDO of Water Resources Department, Shantilal Gupta, at Baikunthpur in Koria district. The agency also found documents about a plot worth Rs 8 lakh and house worth Rs 25 lakh in Ujjain.
ACB found cash worth Rs 1.85 lakh from house of Febian Khes, Executive Engineer, PWD, Ambikapur, besides documents of properties including a nursing home worth Rs 1.60 crore, a farm house, a poultry, plots and an SUV.

According to ACB, the value of properties is calculated as per their purchase price and could be several crores as per the current market rates.