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In Black & Black

No end, it seems, to seizures from the Joshis

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In Black & Black
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Mr & Mrs Lucre

  • I-T raids reveal IAS officer couple Tinu and Arvind Joshi have amassed some Rs 360 crore
  • They own 24 flats in Bhopal, Delhi and Guwahati
  • Have purchased 400 acres in the names of Arvind’s NRI sisters
  • Foreign currency—dollars, pounds and euros—was also seized from the Joshi residence
  • They had invested in stocks, hotels, resorts and the liquor trade
  • The Lokayukta is probing them

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The new buzzword at Mantralaya in Bhopal is ‘Joshied the money’, meaning, stashed away huge amounts of currency under beds and carpets, inside sofas and in other such places. The phrase has been doing the rounds since the income-tax department conducted fresh raids at the Bhopal residence of tainted IAS couple Tinu and Arvind Joshi on January 17-18 and uncovered wealth valued at Rs 360 crore, a substantial portion of it in cash. It is for the first time that the department has recovered “wealth disproportionate to known sources of income” of such magnitude from any IAS officer.

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It wasn’t just currency notes that were found. Investigators also seized documents relating to the purchase of more than two dozen flats in Bhopal, Delhi and Guwahati, and more than 400 acres in Madhya Pradesh. The land was purchased in the names of Arvind’s NRI sisters Vibha and Abha. The Enforcement Directorate had on January 20 served notices to the couple for allegedly violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The state special police, under the Lokayukta, has also registered a case against the Joshis. The opposition Congress has slammed the BJP government and has demanded the dismissal of the couple from service.

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Investigators also recovered dollars, pounds and euros in thousands from the Joshi residence. The Joshis now face a peculiar situation: if they accept buying land in the name of NRIs, they can be prosecuted under FEMA; if they deny the purchase, at the very least, they will lose the land.

However, the special police establishment (SPE) of the Lokayukta, which received the appraisal report on the raids submitted by the I-T department, said it will take time to finish its investigation of the case. According to a Lokayukta officer, the 7,000-page appraisal report is being studied, and indicates that the Joshis have invested in shares and in the liquor trade, besides having share holdings in hotels and resorts and owning valuable real estate. They were also found to be holding Rs 9.83 crore in bank deposits.

Trouble for the Joshis began on February 4, 2010, when they were first raided by the I-T department. At that point, Rs 3 crore in cash was recovered from their residence, and they were suspended from service. A week after that, the Lokayukta had initiated investigations against them. The initial recoveries were small compared to what investigators have subsequently found. After nine months of investigations, the SPE registered an FIR on December 9, 2010, and raided their house a day later, leading to the recovery of Rs 7 lakh and gold ornaments weighing 146 grams.

Arvind and Tinu, both 1979-batch officers of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, have held important positions at the Centre since the late ’80s. Tinu served as deputy secretary in the PMO from July 1, 1988, to January 1, 1990, while Arvind was joint secretary in the defence ministry during the 1999 Kargil war. The suspended couple have trouble on another front: the Reserve Bank of India has also sent a showcause notice after receiving a copy of the appraisal report. The couple, however, have denied receiving any such notice.

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