ED UNCOVERS RS 123 CR SMART METER COMMISSION ₹SCAM' LINKED TO IAS OFFICER

Much of the assets from ill-gotten money that were acquired by arrested Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Sanjeev Hans were done when he was serving as personal secretary to Ram Vilas Paswan when the latter was appointed as Union Food Minister in 2014 till 2019, Secretary to Water Resources Department in Bihar from August 2019 to December 2020, and then as Principal Secretary in the Bihar Energy Department.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

These allegations include taking bribe and commission for settling matters at National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and giving contracts worth thousands of crores to entities who had no experience in carrying out the work, in lieu of a 4% commission.

The ED has attached multiple properties of Hans, a 1997 batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, along with that of Gulab Yadav, a former MLA of Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD, and other close associates of Hans under the provision of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

A special court for the Money Laundering Act at Patna will hear the case on Monday, 6 January.

The Punjab-born Hans, who is a graduate in civil engineering, has become the newest entrant to the "disgraced" but ever-increasing list of IAS officers who have become a household name for the sheer level of corruption that they have allegedly engaged in.

Details exclusively accessed by The Sunday Guardian show the extent of ill-gotten money that Hans allegedly had at his disposal as he bought properties across India in his name and in the names of his family members.

The ED, under the Ministry of Finance, had initiated investigation against Hans on the basis of FIR No. 18/2023 that was lodged against him and others for an alleged rape offence at Police Station Rupaspur, Patna, and a subsequent FIR No. 5/2023 that was registered by Special Vigilance Unit, Bihar.

In July last year, the ED had raided the premises of Hans and former RJD MLA Gulab Yadav in Delhi and Pune. A similar search operation was carried out at five locations in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata between 10 and 13 September. Later, on 18 October, the two were arrested from Patna and Delhi, respectively.

In all, the ED has carried out searches ten times in this case and has so far arrested 11 people.