IAS officer Radheshyam Mopalwar (File)
THE MAHARASHTRA Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has commenced a ‘discreet inquiry’ into allegations against senior IAS officer Radheshyam Mopalwar over a series of audio clips in which he is purportedly heard discussing a financial matter. Mopalwar is on leave after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis removed him earlier this month from his posting as former vice-chairman and managing director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.
Mopalwar was at the helm of the Rs 46,000-crore Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Corridor project. According to senior officials in the ACB, the discreet inquiry commenced once the audio clips became public. Over 35 unverified audio clips purported to be recordings of phone conversations between Mopalwar and a middle man have been transcribed and are being studied by ACB investigators.
“Some of the conversations pertain to discussions of money to be given to his estranged wife and daughter, a few pertain to other matters. In one clip, Mopalwar is heard making a reference of money to be paid at the state secretariat. We are studying these transcripts in detail to find out if there may be issues of misappropriation, misuse of power or corruption,” said the official.
“Audio clippings by themselves cannot be evidence of guilt. The transcripts are being studied along with other documents to verify if the allegations are true,” he added. When contacted by The Indian Express, Mopalwar said the tapes were doctored.
“These forged and doctored audio clips through voice modulation are made viral by individuals who have a background of committing technical crimes like procuring call data records (CDRs) illegally. This individual is on bail in such CDR crimes as well as in a case of attempted extortion. As an inquiry in veracity of these clips is announced on the floor of the house truth will come out after such inquiry,” Mopalwar said via a text message.
An inquiry into the clips was ordered during the recently concluded monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature. Asked about the ACB inquiry and if he had been approached by the agency, Mopalwar said via a text message, “Please ask them.” According to ACB sources, besides awaiting forensic test results of the voice sample in the audio clips to ascertain whether the voice is indeed Mopalwar’s, investigators are also poring through various documents, including those pertaining to properties allegedly belonging to Mopalwar and his kin.
“We have the communication made by the IT department to probe any disproportionate assets. We are studying if this is case of misuse of office by a government servant or that of disproportionate assets or both,” added the official. To a question regarding the communications between central agencies to probe allegations against him pertaining to disproportionate assets, Mopalwar repeated via text message that the question should be directed to the ACB.
The discreet inquiry will reportedly be concluded soon, after which the ACB will decide whether or not to initiate an open inquiry. The IAS officer cannot be questioned until acting Director General of ACB Vivek Phansalkar gives his nod. “The report would be presented to him to decide if we need to call Mopalwar for questioning,” added the official.
