CBI’s anti-graft raids yield crores

MUMBAI: A recent raid by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the home of S.C. Jain, director (finance) of Manganese Ore India Ltd, Nagpur, has yielded assets valued at Rs 1.5 crore, which are disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Sources told this newspaper that although CBI officials had raided Mr Jain’s home on May 25, three weeks before the nationwide raids on alleged corrupt officials, they still have their hands full evaluating the wealth amassed by him.The agency found Rs 15 lakhs, fixed deposit receipts amounting to Rs 6 lakhs, Kisan Vikas Patras worth Rs 10 lakhs, Indira Vikas Patras worth 11 lakhs, insurance investments up to Rs 26 lakhs and Reserve Bank of India bonds worth Rs 27 lakhs. Besides, they found four kg gold, two cars, two flats, a two-storeyed house and business interests in the name of his son valued at Rs 10 lakhs.
Meanwhile, raids at 83 places across the country on June 12 unearthed unaccounted money and property worth several crores.
Searches at the home of R.S. Nayak, regional manager of the United India Insurance (UII), Mumbai, revealed bank deposits worth Rs 16 lakhs. Mr Nayak is alleged to have sanctioned an exaggerated claim of Rs 21 lakhs to a policy holder who did not even have the required insurance cover.
During a raid on the residence of Mithila Rani, income-tax commissioner at Hyderabad, the CBI found Rs 1.5 crore hidden in two suitcases. The officials also discovered fixed deposits worth Rs 57 lakh, 3.7 kg gold and a diamond necklace. Ms Rani is an Indian Revenue Service official of the 1979 batch.
A search at the residence of R.A.Verma, I-T joint commissioner, Jaipur, revealed Rs 22 lakhs. The CBI found that he owned a farm house in Jaipur besides two other houses in the Pink City and Ahmedabad. Sources said Mr Verma’s house had been fitted with five air-conditioners. Even the kennel for his six dogs was air-cooled.
A CBI spokesperson in Delhi said the agency had seized Rs 7 lakh from the residence of a sub-divisional telecom officer in Guwahati. He reportedly also owned seven flats, collectively valued at Rs 1 crore. They agency also raided the home of a Chandigarh-based Punjab Oil Selection Board official, who had allegedly provided favours to an allottee of a petrol pump for a Rs 30-lakh bribe.