Vigilance probe against suspended IAS to put several officials under lens

Land acquisitions during his postings in Lakhimpur and Bareilly were investigated in the past, but he was given a clean chit

- Pawan Dixit

LUCKNOW: Several subordinates and colleagues of suspended IAS officer Abhishek Prakash are set to come under the scanner during the vigilance inquiry launched against him on Wednesday after the home department's approval to probe his financial transactions and assets.

"The subordinates and colleagues, who have worked in close coordination with him, will surely be questioned about his working while he served as Invest UP CEO as well as the district magistrates of five districts in the past. He was suspended by the state government on March 20 following allegations of irregularities in the evaluation process for a proposed solar manufacturing project," a senior vigilance officer privy to the development said. The officer said the vigilance inquiry will include Prakash's entire tenure as Invest UP CEO and the district magistrates of Lakhimpur Kheri, Bareilly, Aligarh, Hamirpur as well as Lucknow between September 2011 and March 20, 2025.

According to his service details, Abhishek Prakash was first given independent charge as district magistrate (DM) of Lakhimpur Kheri on September 11, 2011. He served there till July 29, 2012 before being transferred as Bareilly DM where he discharged his duties for nearly two years till June 6, 2014.

His functioning as Bareilly DM was said to be controversial and several anomalies allegedly happened during his tenure, claimed former District Cooperative Federation Limited, Bareilly, chairperson Mahesh Pandey. Pandey had sent a written complaint to the Enforcement Directorate, alleging that the officer patronised four relators involved in anomalies of land worth Rs 8000 crore at Bareilly's Nariyawal village, when he was the district magistrate between July 30, 2012, and June 6, 2014. Many of his subordinates flouted norms to favour realtors involved in developing a township in Bareilly, Pandey further alleged.