Official linked to 220 bank accounts reinstated

RAIPUR - An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer in Chhattisgarh who allegedly had at least 220 bank accounts in various names and assets worth millions of rupees has been reinstated, official sources said Friday.

B.L. Agrawal, a 1988 batch officer, was suspended Feb 11 after the income tax department told the government that raids at his residence and elsewhere revealed he had opened at least 220 bank accounts in the names of people of Kharora, a village some 40 km from here.

Agrawal was also accused of owning assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

But Agrawal, who has maintained that he was a victim of a “conspiracy” by the income tax department, was named a member of the revenue board late Thursday.

Agrawal was secretary of the agriculture department when he was suspended. The government then handed over the case to the Economic Offences Wing for a through probe.

Official sources said that Agrawal was reinstated because the income tax department had failed to provide evidence to substantiate its claims that the money stashed in the bank accounts belonged to him.

But a probe by the Economic Offences Wing will continue along with a department inquiry.

Residents of Kharora, which has reported many starvation deaths, were stunned in February when officials told them they have millions in their bank accounts besides flats in posh localities in various cities.

Papers seized from Agrawal’s residence state that some of them were directors of steel companies. After the revelation, many villagers fled the village fearing police action. A few are yet to return.