CBI recovers 31 gold bars from locker of arrested Delhi IAS officer

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday recovered 31 gold bars, weighing 3.20 kilograms and worth over Rs 82 lakhs, from one of the five lockers of suspended senior IAS officer in the Delhi government Sanjay Pratap Singh, who has been arrested on bribery charges.

The sources said that the recoveries made from Singh’s residence on Tuesday reveals that he was living a chic lifestyle as the agency found 300 bottles of high-end liquor brands like Blue Label, Glenmorangie and expensive watches like Rolex, Rado and many other such labels.

CBI sources claimed that so far, documents related to eight properties in posh areas such as Safdarjung Enclave here, Sector 56 in Gurgaon, Sector 44 and Sector 50 of Noida and high-end construction in Greater Noida which is worth around Rs 20 crore, have also been recovered by the agency.

The fixed deposit receipts of over Rs one crore have been found during searches on Tuesday.

The agency sources claimed that the locker opened on Wednesday by the CBI was jointly in the name of Singh, 1984-batch IAS of AGMUT cadre, and his wife.

800 grams of silver was also seized from the locker. Other documents showing investments in bank accounts; fixed deposits and PPF accounts were also recovered.

Singh, who was the Principal Secretary in the Department of SC, ST and Minorities, was arrested along with his personal assistant by the CBI on Tuesday night for allegedly receiving bribe of Rs 2.20 lakhs for clearing bills of a security firm supplying manpower to his department.

“CBI laid a trap and the PA was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe of Rs 2.2 lakhs from the complainant on behalf of the said officer, who allegedly asked him to deliver the same in his car.”

“The PA delivered the money in his car which was intercepted by the CBI team outside his office and the officer was nabbed with the bribe amount,” CBI spokesperson said here.

PTI