Assets Worth Over Rs 17 Crore Found At Retired Railway Official's Premises

The CBI seized 17 kilograms of gold and Rs 1.57 crore in cash during searches at the premises of a retired railway principal chief commercial manager in Bhubaneswar, officials said on Wednesday.

On January 3, the agency had arrested Pramod Kumar Jena, a 1987-batch Indian Railway Traffic Service officer who retired in November last year, for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The officials said the Central Bureau of Investigation searched Jena's premises in Bhubaneswar, Jagatsinghpur (both in Odisha) and Kolkata.

"A cash amount of Rs 1.57 crore (approximately); postal saving instruments/bank FDs of Rs 3.33 crore (approximately); bank balance of Rs 1.51 crore (approximately); mutual fund of Rs 47.75 lakh (approximately); gold bars, gold biscuits/coins and gold jewellery of 17 kg (approximate value of Rs 9.5 crore) and documents related to immovable properties were found from the bank locker/premises of accused and others, including family members/relatives," a CBI spokesperson said.

Officials said Jena, who joined the service on March 6, 1989, and retired as PCCM in East Coast Railways, was booked under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets more than Rs 1.92 crore.

"His wife Rosina Jena is a housewife with no major source of income, but she regularly files ITR (Income tax returns). PK Jena had no other source of income except his own salary and rental income. The daughters of Jena are also filing IT returns," an official alleged, citing the FIR.

In locker after locker, the illicit wealth kept coming out, officials said, adding that the searches are still going on and some more lockers need to be opened.

"During searches, three keys of lockers in the name of the wife of the accused and five keys of lockers whose names of owners were not readily available were found. After strenuous efforts, the names of the owners of the lockers as well as the locker numbers and bank branches were found. Seven lockers have been operated till now and the remaining locker is being operated," the spokesperson said.

In its FIR, the agency alleged that at the start of the check period on April 1, 2005, Jena had assets worth Rs 4.53 lakh in the form of bank balances and plots, which spiralled to over Rs 4.33 crore at the end of the period on March 31, 2020, they said.

"Information disclosed that after giving the benefit of incomes as mentioned in their Income-Tax Returns, the total income of Jena and his family members from all known sources was to the tune of Rs 3.25 crore during the check period from April 1, 2005, to March 31, 2020," it alleged.

After calculating his income and expenses incurred during the corresponding period, the CBI alleged that there was no satisfactory explanation for Rs 1.92 crore of assets which it said were 59.09 per cent over his genuine sources of income.

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