ED attaches assets of ex-Odisha IFoS officer in money laundering case

Assets worth Rs 29.83 lakh of a former Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer of Odisha have been attached as part of a money laundering investigation against him linked to an alleged disproportionate assets case, the ED said on Friday.

A provisional order for attaching the properties has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the officer, Abhay Kant Pathak, it said.

Pathak last served as the additional principal chief conservator of forest (plan, programme and afforestation) in the Odisha government.

Pathak, a 1987-batch IFoS officer, was compulsorily retired by the Centre on the recommendation of the Odisha government following the registration of a vigilance case for alleged possession of disproportionate assets against him in November 2020.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) case stems from this Odisha vigilance bureau FIR that alleged Pathak ''misused his official position and amassed ill-gotten wealth to an extent of Rs 9.35 crore”.

The ED, in a statement, said the probe found that Pathak ''invested his allegedly ill-gotten income, which was over and above his known sources of income, in acquiring various immovable properties and in bank investments in his and in the name of his family members”.

The federal probe agency had also conducted raids at the premises of the bureaucrat in December.