BHUBANESWAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)on Wednesday registered a corruption case against a senior official of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets to the tune of nearly Rs 1.19 crore. He has been identified as Rabi Narayan Rath, a senior travelling inspector (accounts) with the ECoR, in Bhubaneswar.
During the investigation, the CBI found that Rath allegedly amassed the ill-gotten assets between April 1, 2006 and November 30 last. The raid was conducted on his residence in Khandagiri. The CBI verified his property and bank documents before seizing some incriminating documents from his house. Rath has not been arrested as the investigation is still under way.
“We found that his total assets were worth Rs 2,828 in the form of bank balance on April 1, 2006. By November 30 last year, he had accumulated movable and immovable property, including cash, bank balance, house and landed properties, car and household articles to the tune of nearly Rs 1.90 crore,” a CBI officer said.
Rath’s income from his legitimate and known sources had stood at nearly Rs 1.67 crore during the 14-year check period (from April 1, 2006 to November 30, 2020), the CBI sleuths said. After calculation, the CBI found that Rath and his dependent family members had incurred expenditures of about Rs 96.11 lakh during the period. It included repayment of car, housing and personal loans, payment towards purchase of immovable properties, interest paid on the loans and expenses on the education of his children.
After a thorough assessment of his income and expenditure details, the CBI said Rath possessed assets of nearly Rs 1.19 crore, which was disproportionate to his known and lawful source of income. The CBI said Rath failed to give a satisfactory explanation about the sources of his unaccounted wealth.