ED attaches tainted IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak’s property worth Rs 66 lakh

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday provisionally attached assets worth Rs 66 lakh of former Indian Forest Service (IFoS), 1987 batch Officer, Abhay Kant Pathak.

The assets were attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 for possessing assets disproportionate to his known source of income.

Pathak was working in the capacity of Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Addl. PCCF) of Odisha.

This is not the first time the ED has attached his property. The ED had attached Pathak’s assets worth Rs 29.83 lakh in April 2022 too.

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 the Odisha government.

The Enforcement Directorate had initiated an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, on the basis of an 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.