MP govt undecided on action against IFS officer raided by Lokayukta police

Bhopal: When the Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta Police raided 1987 batch Indian Forest Service officer BK Singh's Bhopal residence on Wednesday morning, his wife refused to let them in at first, insisting that she must speak to her husband. And while Singh tried to vanish from the scene with his valuables in a suitcase, he was stopped in the nick of time by the Lokayukta team which recovered Rs seven lakh in cash, a revolver, jewellery and some Fixed Deposit papers worth around Rs 50 lakh.

OP Sagoria, DSP Lokayukta Police, said, "Total assets worth Rs 50 crore have so far been unearthed. In his 25 years of service, he should have got around Rs 75 lakh salary. From where and how has he managed to amass such huge assets is questionable."

Among the properties owned by Singh and his immediate family include around 100 bighas of land in the state and 200 bighas of land in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. The state government, has not decided on any action against the forest officer, yet. Forest Minister Sartaj Singh said, "The matter has just come. Now we will look into it and conduct a thorough enquiry."

Till now, the Lokayukta was raiding only peons and clerks. This is the first time that an IFS officer has been touched. The challenge now is to get prosecution sanctioned against the tainted officer.