AGARTALA / BHUBANESWAR, July 24 (TIWN): Odisha Vigilance Department sleuths on Saturday arrested Tripura cadre IPS officer Joydeep Nayak, who had allegedly siphoned off Rs 88 lakh government funds from Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, an official said. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has expedited cases relating to disproportionate assets and corruption registered against Indian Police Service (IPS) officers that have been pending for over 10 years. state Director General of Police (DGP) K. Nagraj, who was handpicked by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar in 2014, has a disproportionate assets case pending against him in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Tripura DGP, K Nagraj, handpicked by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar in 2014, is among several senior IPS officers being investigated for corruption and disproportionate assets by the CBI, whose cases have been fast tracked by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.Nayak, an Inspector General rank officer and of Manipur-Tripura cadre, was recently suspended for his alleged involvement in siphoning off the funds meant for computer education of SC/ST students and self help groups (SHGs) in Odisha, where he was on deputation to the state police's Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC).

Besides Bhattacharjee who still maintains luxury livelihood status near Melarmath is found to be the close aide of BSNL authority here in Agartala. Besides Bhattacharjee who still maintains luxury livelihood status near Melarmath is found to be the close aide of BSNL authority here in Agartala. 

Orissa Vigilance DG Rajendra Prasad Sharma said Nayak was being brought from Ghaziabad on transit remand. The Vigilance Department had recently registered a case against Nayak for allegedly siphoning off government funds, and were looking for the absconding officer.

Earlier this month, the Tripura government  was forced to suspend Joydeep Nayak following the report submitted by the Odisha vigilance in this regard. 

The Tripura government, following the request of the Odisha government last month, asked Nayak to report to the director (vigilance) of Odisha, but he went to New Delhi and got himself admitted to a private hospital.

The Odisha Vigilance Department already arrested five people including the cell's Additional Superintendent of Police Basanta Kumar Pradhan (who was then a deputy superintendent of police), for their involvement in the irregularities.

The Home Ministry, the cadre controlling authority of IPS officers, simultaneously carried out disciplinary action proceedings against personnel accused of graft.

 “It is not only the Tripura DGP’s case; we have expedited other graft cases as well,” the official said. When contacted, Mr. Nagraj said, “I have no comments to make and the details are in public domain. Everything is available with the MHA.”

Other officers facing MHA enquiry are 1989 batch IPS officer A. Sudhakar Rao, who was booked by the CBI for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh; Himachal Pradesh cadre officer R.K Singh, who took voluntary retirement in 2009, and Madhya Pradesh cadre officer R.N. Pandey, who is now retired.

“The investigating agencies are doing their job but we have decided to finalise the cases at our end. The Home Minister held a review meeting a few days ago and he asked for a compliance report soon,” said the official.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on March 29,2007 charge-sheeted I/C-DGP of Tripura police K. Nagraj for possessing assets 500 times more than his known source of income.

Nagraj, an IPS officer of the 1983 batch of the Manipur-Tripura cadre, was charge-sheeted along with his father and brother in the court of the Special Judge, Hyderabad, for possessing assets in his own name as well as in the names of his family members.

CBI had registered the disproportionate assets case against him in 2005, filed  FIR.

Investigations by CBI revealed that during 1978 to 1997, the officer had acquired assets and incurred expenditure to the tune of Rs 83.42 lakh against an income of Rs 13.24 lakh from all his known sources of income.

“The officer was found to have possessed disproportionate assets to the tune of over Rs 70 lakh during the period that is to the tune of more than 500 per cent compared to the known sources of income,” said G Mohanty, spokesperson of CBI in 2007.

Nagraj had bought most of his properties in posh localities of Hyderabad and according to the prevailing market their price would now run into Rs. 90 crores.

“The properties acquired by him include a house and a plot in the posh Banjara Hills, flat in Yellarddyguda, a house and a plot in Jubilee Hills, flat in Somajiguda, Hyderabad, plots in Guttalu Begumpet, a shop in Abids and eight plots in Renga Reddy District of Andhra Pradesh,” a senior CBI official said.

Hyderabad real estate prices jumped exponentially from 1978 – 1997 to 2016 and current market value estimate of Nagraj properties :

A house and a plot in the posh Banjara Hills : Rs 25 crores approx

A Flat at in Yellarddyguda  :  Rs 2.5 crores approx

A  house and a plot in posh Jubilee Hills : Rs 30 crores approx

A flat in Somajiguda, Hyderabad : Rs 2 crores approx

Plots in Guttalu Begumpet (Rs 8.5 crores), a shop in Abids  (Rs 13 crores)and eight plots in Renga Reddy District of Andhra Pradesh ( approx. 15 crores).

All together Rs. 95 to 100 crores assets approx. – so K. Nagraj can be termed as the richest and most corrupt DGP in India, which explains why Tripura Chief Minister chosen him for the DGP Post.

Investigations revealed that Nagraj’s father and brother helped him acquire these assets.

The officer had remained on deputation with Andhra Pradesh State Police, Central Reserve Police Force and Bureau of Police Research and Development and later moved back to parent MT cadre Tripura Police.

CBI case is still in progress, if convicted Tripura DGP K.Nagraj might end up in Jail. 

Manik Sarkar's ill gotten communism and corrupt practices providing santuary for DGP Nagaraj kind of corrupt officials who stole crores of public funds from Tripura and Andhra Pradesh.