ED attaches Rs 29.83 lakh assets of Odisha ex-IFS officer Abhay Pathak

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday attached assets worth Rs 29.83 lakh of Abhay Kant Pathak, former IFS officer and the then Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Plan, Programme and Afforestation, P.C.C.F in 2020.

A provisional order for attaching the properties has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Pathak was earlier arrested in November 2020 on charges of amassing disproportionate assets by the Vigilance department. His son Akash Pathak was also put behind bars for misusing the ill-gotten money and masterminding a job fraud.

Following the arrest, the 1987-batch Indian Forest Service officer Pathak was suspended from his service. Later, he was given compulsory retirement on the recommendation of Odisha government.

The Enforcement Directorate had initiated investigation under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, on the basis of FIR registered by the Vigilance Cell in 2020. The case was registered under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Abhay Kant Pathak for possession of disproportionate assets.

“During the course of investigation under PMLA, it was revealed that Abhay Kant Pathak has invested his allegedly ill-gotten income, which is over and above his known sources of income, in acquiring various immovable properties and in bank investments in his name and in the name of his family members,” the ED said in a release.

ED has provisionally attached assets worth Rs. 29.83 lakh of Abhay Kant Pathak, Ex-IFS, the then Addl. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Plan, Programme and Afforestation, P.C.C.F.,Govt of Odisha under PMLA for possessing assets disproportionate to his known source of income

— ED (@dir_ed) April 29, 2022