"Blood Ties in the Bureaucracy: Nepotism Challenges in the Indian Administrative Service"
Though Doctor Pooja Khedkar case has shown the dark underbelly of India's public service administrators, but she is not alone in this muck. Let's explore the grand deeds of some other IAS Babus who went all out in their blind arrogance and with a sense of self entitlement to craft some mind-boggling deeds beyond imagination!!
1. IAS Rati Pal Saroj who changed his UPSC Exam answer sheet
Rati Pal Saroj, while functioning as section officer/ Under Secretary in the Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi during the period 1985-86, with the help of other officials of the Union Public Service Commission, substituted fresh written answer sheets of General Studies Papers I & II, answer books of History Paper II and Philosophy Papers I & II for the Civil Services (Main) Examination held in 1985 and obtained very high marks with the result that he was selected and delivered appointment letter dated 31.7.1986 by the Central Government for the post in the Indian Administrative Service Group „A‟ service for which he could not otherwise have been selected. In 2005 Delhi high court cleared the decks for Saroj's trial by dismissing his petition challenging the charges framed against him by a trial court in 1998. Additional sessions judge Ajit Bharihoke had framed charges against Saroj on March 2, 1998 on the basis of the chargesheet filed by the CBI. Saroj's three colleagues also face similar charges. The three, Desh Raj Chugh, Pramod Behari Mathur and Inder Nathl Uppal had helped Saroj to allegedly cheat in the exams. According to special CBI prosecutor, R M Tewary Saroj worked as a deputy secretary with the Government of India. Justice Manju Goel dismissed Saroj's petition on the ground that there was enough evidence which CBI had collected against him. "Keeping in view the evidence available on record, I am constrained to hold that the trial court has rightly framed the charges against the accused," observed Justice Goel. According to the CBI Chugh, Mathur and Uppal had helped Saroj remove the original answer papers and exchanged it with substitute papers which had the corrected answers. CBI claimed that with the help of his colleagues Saroj managed to qualify for the exams as a high ranker. "Certain employees in UPSC had fraudulently misappropriated answer sheets of Saroj which had been entrusted to them," alleged the CBI. The modus operandi was that fresh answer sheets with answers were copied from the evaluated answer papers and inserted as inner pages of the accused's original answer sheets of General Studies, History and Philosophy papers. The blank pages were stolen by the accused from the UPSC store-room. During investigation the CBI found that the ink on the cover and inside pages of the answer sheets of General Studies paper were different, the punching holes of the cover and inner pages did not match.
2. Ex TRS MLA’s Son, Trainee IAS officer Booked For Cheating And Rape
In 2021 A case was registered against a trainee IAS officer Mrugendar Lal Banoth at Kukatpally police station for allegedly cheating and raping a woman after promising to marry her. Mrugendar Lal Banoth is the son of Madanlal Banoth, former TRS MLA from Wyra, Khammam district. The woman in a complaint filed with police alleged that the trainee officer, who is presently undergoing training at Madurai District Collectorate in Tamil Nadu, raped her on different occasions here since 2019, by blackmailing her and threatening to call off the marriage if she did not fulfill his sexual desires. He was first selected for the IPS in 2019, got acquainted with the young woman from Kukatpally while training at the Police Academy in Shivarampally. He used to chat with her every day and made her believe that he was in love with her. On December 25th last year, he took the girl to his room and attempted to rape her in the name of love, but she resisted and left the place. The accused then told her that he would introduce her to his family members and asked her to come to the academy. There he again asked her to fulfill his desires and if she didn’t he blackmailed the young woman that he wouldn’t marry her. Since she had no other way, the victim agreed. After that, Mrugender, started evading her and when she repeatedly mentioned the topic of marriage he started giving various reasons and postponed it. Mrugendar was selected for the IAS in August last year. He resigned from the IPS and joined the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Administrative Academy in Mussoorie. There, Mrigender developed a relationship with another girl who was his batchmate. When she questioned him, his father Madanlal Banoth intervened and tried to give her Rs 25 lakh in cash to silence her. He also threatened the woman in front of her family members that she would be killed if she refused. The young woman alleged that on July 31 this year, Mrugendar came to her house and forcibly destroyed her cell phone. She then approached the Kukatpally police seeking justice.
3. Himachal Cadre IAS Officer Naveen Tanwar Suspended for Appearing in IBPS Exam Instead of Someone Else
Naveen Tanwar, who was serving as the Additional Deputy Commissioner/Project Director of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) was suspended on Friday, April 5 2024, for allegedly taking the bank clerk recruitment exam on behalf of Amit Singh from Jhansi in 2014. The suspension comes after Tanwar received a three-year prison sentence earlier last month. Judicial Magistrate Shivam Verma of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) fined Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Tanwar Rs 50,000 but he was released from custody after the CBI court granted him bail. In this case, the Law Department clarified that if an employee or officer remains in jail for 48 hours, then he should automatically be considered 'suspended'. Naveen was currently serving as the Additional Deputy Commissioner/Project Director of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) in the Chamba district. As per sources, on December 13, 2014, Tanwar, a resident of Noida, Uttar Pradesh, took the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) clerk recruitment exam at the Ideal Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad, in place of Amit Singh from Jhansi. The CBI had apprehended the Solver gang, in which Tanwar was one of the six accused. In 2019 during the hearing, Tanwar was questioned and interrogated.
4. Karnataka IPS officer sought husband’s transfer for helping IAS officer’s family business
In the Audio clip released in the year 2023, IPS officer D Roopa purportedly alleged that IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri was collecting property information from her husband Munish Moudgil to help a real estate business run by her family. In the 25-minute audio clip, Roopa is purportedly heard talking to Mysuru RTI activist N Gangaraju, who released the clip. She accused her husband of sharing details of certain properties – accessible to him during his tenure as commissioner of the department – with Sindhuri. These were sought to help a real estate business run by Rohini Sindhuri’s family, Roopa alleged. Moudgil was transferred from the department on Tuesday and posted as principal secretary, department of personnel and administrative reforms.
5. IAS LOOTED 98 CRORES OF PUBLIC MONEY
In year 2023 Haryana police arrested an IAS officer Ajit Saran from his residence on charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust. Ajit Saran, former joint secretary (banking and insurance) of the Ministry of Finance, allegedly misappropriated Rs 98 crore when he was the managing director of Haryana Finance Corporation. Saran cheated the Haryana Finance Corporation between 1991 to 1996 issuing loans to companies with bogus credentials.
6. UP MINING SCAM
In 2012, the state government under Akhilesh Yadav had floated a policy of e-tendering in the allocation and renewal of sand mining leases. The order dated May 31, 2012, also cancelled all its prior orders pertaining to the grant and renewal of sand mining leases under the UP Minor Minerals Concession Rules, 1963. In a number of districts, officials allegedly colluded with contractors to renew and issue the lease for digging out sand from riverbed in violation of the state government's policy of allowing such process only through e-tendering. IAS officers Ajay Kumar Singh and Pawan Kumar, who figure among the 12 accused in the FIR, had allegedly allowed the renewals of leases in violation of the e-tendering policy during their tenure as district magistrates of Saharanpur, officials alleged. Mohammed Wajid, the son for former then BSP MLC Haji Iqbal of Saharanpur, was one of the beneficiaries who is named as an accused in the FIR. The other accused named in the FIR include Mehmood Ali, Dilshad, Mohammed lnam, Late Mehboob Alam, Naseem Ahmad, Amit Jain, Vikas Agarwal, Mukesh Jain and Puneet Jain.
7. The patronized IAS
CBI had carried out searches at 14 locations across Delhi and UP in connection with its FIR against 11 people to probe the alleged illegal mining of minor minerals in UP’s Hamirpur district during 2012-16, when the Samajwadi Party was in power under Akhilesh Yadav. IAS Bhukya Chandrakala, Samajwadi Party MLC Ramesh Mishra, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Sanjay Dixit and officers of mining department were among those named in the FIR.
8. Keralite IPS officer used his wife's help to cheat during IAS exam
Safeer Karim Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, who was aspiring to enter the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), was arrested for cheating in the civil services main exam. He was an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. Safeer Karim was caught talking to his wife in Hyderabad for answers of the main exam. He was arrested with Bluetooth equipment. The IPS officer had been jailed after Intelligence Bureau officers caught him cheating in the Union Public Service Commission (Main) Examination at a test centre in Egmore, Chennai. Reportedly, Safeer Karim took a cellphone, a Bluetooth-enabled miniature camera in a shirt button and wireless earpieces into the examination hall in Presidency Girls Higher Secondary School. Joicy Joy, Safeer Karim’s wife, was dictating the answers to him from Hyderabad. Joicy Joy was also been arrested by Hyderabad police. She was a visiting faculty member at “La Excellence IAS -The Institute for Civil Services” at Ashok Nagar Crossroads in Hyderabad. Karim hails from Aluva of Kerala. He ranked 112 in a second attempt at the UPSC exams in 2015. He is an electronics engineer and proprietor of Karim’s IAS. Karim’s IAS trains civil service candidates and has branches in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Karim wanted to join the IAS, hence he took the UPSC exams again.
9. IAS officer Ashutosh Sahay and his wife Monica
and their partners lured people to invest in bogus SRA (Slum Rehabilition Projects) Projects and duped them of 5.77 Crores by promising to double their money. The IAS officer, Ashutosh Sahay, is a Central government Group 'A' services cadre 1992 batch officer who has done his B. Tech (Textiles) and MBA in International Marketing. He has also done PGDM (Business Management) and PGDM (Human Resource Management). He also holds an LLB degree. He has experience of 29 years working with various government departments.
10. The golden bee - IAS Pooja Singhal
Pooja Singhal joined the Indian Administrative Service at the age of 21, making her one of the youngest civil officers in the country at the time. Her career saw various postings, including significant roles in the Jharkhand State Department of Health and Family Welfare, and later in the agriculture department. In 2021, she was appointed as the Secretary of the Mines and Industries departments in Jharkhand. In May 2022, Pooja Singhal was arrested in connection with money laundering linked to the embezzlement of funds from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted extensive raids across multiple states, recovering ₹174.9 million from a chartered accountant associated with Singhal and her husband. This led to her suspension from her duties as mining secretary and subsequent judicial custody. Further investigations revealed even more shocking details. Authorities discovered additional cash and over 150 property documents, indicating that she had invested her illegally earned money in real estate. One of the most significant discoveries was the existence of more than 50 fake companies. These companies were used to funnel money into a luxury hospital named Pulse, which was constructed by Singhal's husband. Singhal allegedly showed an investment of ₹100 crores by these non-existent companies. This elaborate scheme highlighted the sophisticated methods employed to launder money and evade detection.
11. 581 corruption charges filed against IAS officers in 2020-21:
Govt A total of 753 complaints were received against the IAS officers in 2019-20 and 643 in 2018-19.
12. IAS 'Tycoon' worth 500 crore suspended
I-T raids have revealed that Chhattisgarh's Agriculture Secretary IAS Babulal Agrawal could be a staggering 500 crore rupees. He has Rs 40 crore in 220 fake bank accounts & owns 16 bogus companies,which he used as hawala channels.
13. ED
Raipur has provisionally attached 18 movable and 161 immovable properties worth Rs. 205.49 Crore (approx.) belonging to Anil Tuteja, Ex-IAS, Anwar Dhebar and others in the ongoing investigation of liquor scam in the State of Chhattisgarh.
14. ABUSE OF POWER
Meet Geromic George Thiruvananthapuram’s DC, the ‘Shameless’ IAS Officer who in a blatant display of power abuse sidelined 200 Patients at the General Hospital for Personal Treatment at home.
15. The open loot of 153 crores, 86 properties and farmhouses by IAS Seema Chaurasia.
16. The goldmine of corruption
Several gold and silver coins, cash, mobile phones and other electronic devices were recovered from the residence of arrested IAS Sanjay Popli. IAS Sanjay Popli’s juniors ‘collected bribe’ for him,sent jeweller money to turn it to gold. Popli was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on 21 June,for allegedly demanding cut of 1% from a contractor working on a Rs 7.3 cr project.
17. OHRDC Scam:
Vigilance court awards 3-year jail term to IAS officer Vinod Kumar,5 others.
18. Bhopal: IAS couple's worth Rs 360 cr
Rs 360 crore - that's the worth of top ranking IAS officers Arvind Joshi and Tinoo Joshi. The high profile IAS couple of 1979 batch were suspended after an Income-Tax raid at their Bhopal house.
19. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached assets worth Rs 152 crore of IAS officers and others in the Chhattisgarh illegal mining case.
20. Gujarat: 'Cheque babu' (IAS) K Rajesh's graft account sealed by CBI.
21. Chhattisgarh IAS officer arrest:
Rs 2-3 crore was daily collection as illegal levy on coal transportation, says ED The ED, which arrested Chhattisgarh IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi along with two others in connection with a money laundering case.
22. 1991 Batch IAS Officer Gets 4 Years In Jail In Corruption Case.
CBI had registered a case in 2004, alleging that Sandeep Garg, who was then posted as a Regional Director (North) Anti Adulteration Cell, was habitual of taking illegal gratification.
23. 1,393 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers did not file their asset details between 2011 to 2021!!
24. In 2022 three IAS officers, Sameer Vishnoi, Sunil Aggrawal and Laxmikant Tiwari, were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the money laundering case.
According to the findings of the ED, the generation of illegal money through transportation of coal was started when a notification issued by the 2009 batch IAS officer, Sameer Vishnoi ,while he was the director of the Geology and Mining Department, made it mandatory to get manual approval for dispatching of all minerals by consumers by any mode of transportation. Through this order, the transparent online system altered and it became a necessity for the miners and transporters to get manual NOC from the Mining section of DM's Offices. This opened a portal of corruption and the cartel led by Suryakant Tiwari, who set up a wide network of cash collectors that spread across eight areas. It also directly involved the DM offices for illegal collection of levies for transport permits/NOC for coal. Until the bribe amounts were not paid and communicated by this cartel to the officials at DM's Office, the NOCs were not given. As a result, a levy of Rs 25 per tonne was collected for each tonne of coal transported in the State of Chhattisgarh. Documents with I-T Department and reports shared by the I-T Dept show that in a period of 16 months, more than Rs 500 crore of bribe/levy was collected. This amount was distributed across businessmen and politicians, IAS and other state officers.
25. 24-Hour Raids At TN Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao's Home,Office. Income Tax officials claim to have recovered nearly ₹ 30 lakh in cash & 5kgs of gold.
26. TN Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao,son raided,Rs30 lakh in new notes.
Tax officials said in addition to Rs 30 lakh in new Rs 2,000 notes,5 kilograms of gold, documents with details of undisclosed assets worth about Rs 5 crore were also recovered during the raids carried out at 11 places.
27. 12 Years of Govt. Service, Dy Collector worth 118 Crore.
28. Corrupt IAS officer Ayush Oak Suspended in a Rs 2000 crore Land scam in Surat.
29. Haryana grants permission to investigate 2 IAS officers(Sonal Goel and Anita Yadav) in Rs 200-cr Faridabad civic body ‘scam’.
30. ED arrests retired IAS Anil Tuteja in Rs 2000 crore liquor 'scam' case.
31. ED attaches under PMLA, 4 vehicles, 13 immovable properties and cash of Rs. 23 Lakhs totaling to Rs. 8.80 Crore of former IAS Officer, T.O. Sooraj, in DA case of VACB, Special Cell, Ernakulam.
32. Two ex-IAS officers fly out of the country to skip probe in Rs 1,000 crore Punjab Irrigation Dept. scam.
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