ED Attaches Assets Worth Rs 66 Lakh Of Former Odisha Cadre IFS Officer Abhay Kant Pathak

Bhubaneswar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 66 lakh of former Odisha cadre Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Abhay Kant Pathak under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The central probe agency had in January this year carried out searches in connection with the money laundering case registered against Pathak, a former Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Addl PCCF) in Odisha.

The ED had launched a probe against Pathak under the PMLA, 2002 on the basis of the FIR registered by the Vigilance department over disproportionate assets worth around Rs 9.35 crore possessed by the former IFS officer and his family members, sources said.

During the search, the ED had seized a BMW car worth around Rs 75 lakh under the PMLA, 2002.

Pathak, who was a 1987 batch officer, was working in the capacity of Addl. PCCF, Plan, Programme and Afforestation in the office of the PCCF, Odisha.

During the investigation, the ED also collected and examined several other FIRs and charge sheets registered/filed by Odisha Police involving his son Akash Kumar Pathak.

“These FIRs and charge sheets revealed the criminal activities of Akash and others who had duped the gullible people in lieu of providing jobs in Tata Motors,” said the ED.

Abhay and his son Akash were arrested on November 27, 2020 on evidence of amassing ill-gotten wealth of more than Rs 20 crore that has been recovered till now.

The Odisha government had recommended to the Centre for compulsory retirement of Abhay Kant Pathak,  terming him ‘very corrupt and high-flying’, sources said.