Headlines
Bengal IAS officer arrested for graft
Siliguri, July 16
An Indian Administrative
Service (IAS) officer, Godala Kiran Kumar, was arrested Wednesday night
for allegedly siphoning off funds from the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri
Development Authority (SJDA) while serving as its CEO, police said.
Kiran
Kumar, now serving as joint secretary (agriculture) of the West Bengal
government, was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department of the
state police after a marathon grilling that started Wednesday
afternoon.
Deputy Superintendent of Police, CID, Goutam Ghoshal
said Kiran Kumar was taken into custody after he could not give
satisfactory answers to posers linked to the purchase of four electric
furnace of a crematorium that was being constructed by the SJDA during
his tenure from September 2011 to March 2013.
The SJDA scam is said to be worth over Rs.100 crore.
Kiran
Kumar was earlier arrested in November 2013 in connection with the
siphoning of funds in the purchase of CCTV cameras and a sewerage
project undertaken by the SJDA during his stint. However, the IAS
officer was released the very next day after he was granted bail in the
case.
The then Siliguri commissioner of police K. Jayaraman had
been removed for ordering the arrest without seeking prior permission
from the state government as well as not giving any prior intimation
about the action.