Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

The Income Tax department has claimed to have detected wealth valued at a whopping Rs 360 crore from suspended Madhya Pradesh IAS officer couple Arvind and Tinu Joshi and disproportionate to their known source of income. 

 
Department sources said here today that the biggest amount of ill-gotten money probably detected from any IAS officer in the country was unearthed following several Income Tax raids on the premises of the duo. The first raid on February 4 last had yielded Rs three crore and a number of documents about their alleged unaccounted investments, the department claimed.

Jewellery worth Rs 67 lakh and foreign currency worth Rs seven lakh and seven suitcases were also recovered during the raids, the department claimed. The raids were carried out following complaints that the officers had allegedly made huge investments in an insurance company.

In a 7,000-page appraisal report submitted recently to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary, Avni Vaish and Lokayukta P V Naolekar, the department has given details of investments made by the Joshis.

Both Arvind and Tinu, who are 1979-batch IAS Officers of the Madhya Pradesh Cadre, have held important positions in the Centre since the late 80s.

Tinu served as Deputy Secretary in the PMO from July 1, 1988 to January 1, 1990 while Arvind was Joint Secretary in the Defence Ministry during the 1999 Kargil hostilities.

As per the report, the two have made investments in a number of areas ranging from agriculture to real estate and stock market.

The couple purchased agricultural or non-agricultural land at a number of places including Kanha and Bandhavgarh national parks, Raisen, Balaghat, Sehore and Bhopal, the report said.

The report also alleged that the couple purchased 25 flats of which 18 are in Guwahati, six in Bhopal and one in New Delhi.

Papers about seven plots at Patel Nagar have also been recovered from their possession, it said.

The report also claimed that Arvind Joshi had allegedly indulged in speculative trading in shares, futures and options to the tune of Rs 270 crore in the last three years.