Postal officer's assets put him under CBI scanner

Mumbai: The CBI has taken a Gondia-based postal department officer under its scanner for allegedly owning assets that were disproportionate to his known source of income by around five times (562 per cent). According to the CBI which has booked the officer under the Prevention of Corruption Act, he amassed assets, including cash, worth Rs 96 lakh in the period between 2004-16, even though his known sources of income was only around Rs 15 lakh in the same period. The officer is currently under suspension.

The agency is trying to find out how the officer amassed these assets. “The postal department officer’s assets were found to be disproportionate by around Rs 86 lakh from his known sources of income,” said a CBI source. 

Their investigation has revealed that the accused had joined as a postal assistant in 2004 and was promoted to the post of sub-post master in the year 2011. 

He was posted in the head post office as well as in the sub-post office in Gondia from 2004 to 2016. “At the time of joining service in 2004, the accused had no assets to his name but then amassed assets, including cash, worth around Rs 96 lakh by 2016,” said the source.    

The accused had invested around Rs 85 lakh out of the allegedly unaccounted wealth in National Saving Certificates, Kisan Vikas Patras and fixed deposits in the post office and banks.