New Delhi:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case of alleged disproportionate assets worth Rs 3 crore against an IAS officer, who is posted as Director in the Ministry of Social Justice.
The agency, after registering the case, carried out searches at four place in Delhi and Bangalore including the residence of the 2000 batch IAS officer K Dhanalakshmi Gowda, who is from Uttar Pradesh cadre and has also served in the office of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna as his private secretary.
"It is alleged that she, while working as public servant, acquired huge assets both immovable and movable in her name as well as in the name of her mother (a housewife)," CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said on Saturday.
CBI alleged that Dhanalakshmi was found in possession of disproportionate assets to the tune of approximately Rs 3.15 crore which are beyond her known sources of income.
Her name has also surfaced in the alleged land scam in Tronica city project in Ghaziabad near Delhi where valuable land was allotted at throwaway prices, the agency said.
"Most of these assets have allegedly been acquired by her as benami properties in the name of her mother who abetted to acquire the assets in her name," the spokesperson said.
She said searches were conducted at four places in New Delhi and Bangalore at the residential and official premises of the accused yesterday. The documents seized during the searches are under scrutiny.
Reacting to investigations, MEA spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said, "It is understood that CBI conducted some investigations yesterday, in the apartment of Ms K Dhanlakshmi, an IAS officer of UP cadre, who is presently serving... in Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The apartment was allotted to her during her brief tenure in the External Affairs Minister's office."