Bureaucrat found in possession of Rs 70 crore assets suspended

The Madhya Pradesh government has suspended a senior Revenue Department officer after he was found in possession of assets worth around Rs 70 crore, suspected to be acquired through corrupt means.

Ravikant Dwivedi, a Joint Commissioner in Revenue Department, was suspended on Saturday night after Lokayukta police last week raided his residence and uncovered details of several properties worth at least Rs 60-70 crore.

In a fresh search on Saturday, the Lokayukta police seized Rs one lakh from a bank locker of Dwivedi's wife and 1.623 kgs of gold worth about Rs 50 lakh.

Though the real value of the assets is yet to be ascertained, Lokayukta sources had earlier said it must be more than Rs 60-70 crore as per initial estimates and this is hugely disproportionate to Dwivedi's known sources of income.

The other assets of the bureaucrat found till Saturday include Rs 15 lakh cash, documents of over 25 properties including plots, houses, hotel, hostel, warehouse, service station, jewellery worth Rs seven lakh, some details of agriculture land, 15 bank accounts and investment in insurance companies among others, Siddharth Choudhary, Superintendent of Police (Lokayukta), told reporters on Saturday evening.

A printing press and a flyash brick factory were also found to be owned by Dwivedi family, sources said.

Meanwhile, Dwivedi, told mediapersons on Saturday evening that most of the properties the Lokayukta was attributing to him were either owned by his wife or son. He also claimed that a substantial portion of cash recovered from his house belonged to his US-based daughter, who wished to purchase a house in Bhopal.

Dwivedi reached his office yesterday and denied that he was hiding saying that he was suffering from blood pressure and was admitted to a hospital for rest.

"It is a conspiracy against me. I own only a plot and a house at Gulmohar colony and the jewellery belongs to my daughter-in-law and daughter."

Dwivedi joined the service as Deputy Collector in 1987 and was posted at various places including Datia among others.