Disproportionate assets: CBI registers cases against 14 babus

CBI today claimed to have carried out a nation-wide operation between May 16 and May 31 against 14 government officers who allegedly amassed assets disproportionate to known sources of their income and registered cases against them.
The drive saw registration of corruption cases against six Group A officers, three Group B officers and five Group C officers of the central government and public sector undertakings, agency sources said.
They said alleged disproportionate assets worth about Rs 38.47 crore were found during the drive.
A major chunk of the illegal assets allegedly belonged to Ashutosh Singh, Deputy General Manager in the Ministry of Textiles who has been booked in a case of disproportionate assets worth over Rs 25 crore.

He allegedly posed as a Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry and duped several people after promising to get their work done.
Singh was apprehended by the agency when he was trying to pay bribe to a Delhi Police SHO for saving him in a cheating case, the sources said.

They said while the documented value of his assets is about Rs 25 crore, five times more than his known sources of income, the market value of 27 properties owned by him and his relatives could be in the range of hundreds of crores of rupees.
These included shops in Andheri, flats in posh societies in Mumbai and land in Noida and Mumbai.

Besides him, other Group A officers booked by the agency included Senior Manager in Bharat Coking Coal Limited Narayan Singh, who allegedly amassed disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 1.9 crore; Administrative Officer at New India Assurance Co. Ltd. In Murshidabad Chinmay Goswami whose alleged disproportionate assets were Rs 3.87 crore and Passport Officer of Goa Agnelo Fernandes with assets of Rs 62.4 lakh, they said.
Deputy Manager of New India Assurance Co. Ltd. In Surat Sanjay Punjab Rao Thokal with alleged disproportionate assets worth Rs 56.2 lakh and Superintendent Central Excise (Service Tax) in Madurai Ashok Raj with alleged disproportionate assets of Rs 41.9 lakh have also been booked, they said.