The Ahmedabad zonal office of the enforcement directorate on Friday got custody of suspended Gujarat cadre IAS officer K Rajesh and his reported partner in crime, Mohammad Rafiq Memon. The central agency has begun a money laundering investigation based on an FIR booked against the former Surendranagar collector.
On Friday, ED advocate Sudhir Gupta put forward the warrant for K Rajesh and his alleged accomplice Memom, who is a resident of Surat in the CBI Court. The advocate also got 24-hour custody of the duo for questioning purposes.
It is probable that the central agency will seek further remand on Saturday. The IAS officer was arrested by the CBI last month. He was suspended by the government of Gujarat after the arrest took place.
ED officials could not be reached on Friday. A senior official of Ahmedabad Central Prison said Rajesh was handed over to the central agency as directed by the court. When he was Surendranagar’s collector, a charge sheet was filed against him, for taking bribes to issue arms licenses to ineligible people, allotting government land to ineligible beneficiaries and grant of other illegal favors.
According to sources close to the matter, the ED had started an investigation by taking the statements of 10 witnesses in the case in the past few months, including former MLA Soma Patel. They said that in 2019, Rajesh had reportedly transferred Rs 17 crore to his family member`s accounts.
The probe into alleged money laundering began on the basis of CBI’s FIR against Rajkesh and his accomplice Mohammad Memom registered in May. The IAS officer of the 2011 batch was arrested by the CBI in July. He was at that point of time, serving as a joint secretary in the general administration department of the Gujarat government. He was eventually suspended by the state government. In May, the CBI had arrested Memom, a Surat resident for being a middleman and collecting bribes on Rajesh’s behalf
