Anti corruption units of the Central Bureau of Investigation are on Friday conducting countrywide raids against corrupt government officials and politicians.
Several IAS officers of the rank of joint secretary and above, customs, income tax and police officers are under the CBI scanner.
CBI Director U S Misra, the agency had been working on these officials for sometime now and only when it was sure of the information that it had gathered that the raids were conducted on them."
As far as senior government officials are concerned, we are proceeding against them after taking necessary clearances," he said.
According to G Mohanty, spokesman for CBI, countrywide raids are taking place at more then 150 places across the nation.
"You name a city and we are raiding places there. Major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkatta, Chandigarh, Jaipur are all being raided. It won't be possible to give any details right now," he said.
PTI adds:
The CBI has so far registered 40 cases against 50 public servants.
In Mumbai, CBI sleuths recovered Rs 8 lakh from Commissioner of Income Tax Tribunal B R Meena, an IRS officer of the 1977 batch.
During the searches, CBI claimed to have found that the official, who has been booked in a disproportionate assets case, had built a palatial house in Jaipur worth Rs 1 crore.
The agency also claimed to have recovered documents showing that Meena was in possession of 18 land plots.
Among those raided were former Punjab minister Nirmal Singh, one Superintendent of Central Excise in Chennai and a Deputy Chief Engineer of Southern Railways.
"The searches are being carried out on the government officials belonging to Customs, Excise, Bombay Port Trust and
Oil and Natural Gas Commission," said Joint Director S P Srivastava.
In Delhi, four cases have been registered so far, including against a Delhi Police inspector, Ishwar Singh.
An official of the rank of additional seceratary in the government and some officials of Modi Xerox were booked by CBI for allegedly causing loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 50 lakh.
In Kolkata, raids were conducted at 15 places, including the homes and offices of three government officials.
"We are investigating a director of National Institute of Homoeopathy and a BSNL sub-divisional engineer. There is another case relating to SBI home loan," a CBI source said.
In Patna, the CBI raided the premises of the Bihar state convener of the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology, some NGOs and an official of the cantonment board.
SP, CBI (Patna), R Shivaji told PTI that the premier investigative agency had registered four cases in connection with the 'swindling' of public money by various non- government organisations through CAPART.
The CBI also conducted raids at places in Deogarh, Godda and Dumka in Jharkhand. According to initial reports, the sleuths raided the residence of a BSNL engineer, Inder Dev Yadav, at Nunajore village in Godda district.
In Chennai, the residences of an Superintendent of Central Excise and an Assistant Commissioner of Customs were being searched since early this morning, a CBI official said.
Meanwhile in Visakhapatnam, the CBI has booked a senior railway official for allegedly selling off 12 railway wagons valued at Rs 54 lakh.