Unaccounted assets worth Rs 100 Crore found in ACB raid at Rajasthan official's house

Unaccounted wealth, including property and jewellery worth Rs 100 crore, has been found at the residence of Surendra Singh Rathore, the Chief Executive Officer of Bio-fuel Authority (CEO), officials said here on Friday.

Rathore was arrested for taking a bribe of Rs 5 lakh on Thursday. Bio-fuel Authority is a Rajasthan government entity under the state Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Department.

During the raid, which continued till late Thursday night, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths also found documents and expensive liquor from Rathore's house and, hence a case under the Excise Act has also been registered against him at Jyoti Nagar police station.

Director General (ACB) B.L. Soni said, "When the team went to raid his residence on Thursday, he openly threatened us saying what can the ACB do. I have a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore," he said.

Accused Rathore had demanded Rs 20 lakh bribe from the complainant on Wednesday in lieu of allowing his business to run in an uninterrupted manner and also for renewal of license, said Soni, adding that the team acting on a complaint arrested Rathore and contract worker Devesh Sharma red-handed while taking a bribe of Rs 5 lakh.

Four different places, including his residence, farm house and apartment in Jaipur city were raided, he said.

Around Rs 4 crore cash, 20 property documents, including flats, shops, farm houses, etc., were found.

The team also found four luxury vehicles, which included Jaguar Land rover, Baleno, Fortuner and Mahendra Thar. His son has been in the mining business.

The ACB team had to use the counting machines to calculate the exact amount of huge cash seized.

A case has been registered against the accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act and investigation is being undertaken, he added.