Vigilance unearths jail official’s investments in financial firms

PATNA: The Special Vigilance Unit (SVU) raids at three locations of DIG (prisons) Shivendra Priyadarshi here on Friday led to revelation of disproportionate assets of at least 150% more than his known sources of income.
Sources in SVU said documents seized from one of Priyadarshi’s flats showed he made investment of more than Rs 30 lakh in many financial institutions.
The raids were conducted at Priyadarshi’s Dew Lush County Apartment flat at Friend’s Colony, Vrindavan Apartment on Ashiana-Digha Road and at house number four in Jaiprakash Nagar in Patna following an order issued by special vigilance court-I judge Madhukar Kumar.
Priyadarshi was posted as the superintendent of Beur Central Jail before he was promoted as DIG (prisons) in 2014.
According to the vigilance FIR, from the perusal of the declaration of assets and liabilities of Priyadarshi and statements of bank accounts, it is found and he and his other dependent family members possess movable and immovable assets worth Rs 1.2 crore.
In addition, several bank credit cards and debit cards have also been seized by the vigilance sleuths during raids. Sources said Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and jewelleries were seized from his Dew Lush County Apartment flat.
According to sources, the SVU is in the process of seeking details from various financial institutions about investments made by Priyadarshi. They said Priyadarshi had shown a loan of Rs 18.5 lakh from relatives in his asset declaration. He will now have to prove his claim with valid documents.