Former Beed Collector Avinash Pathak Arrested In Latur For Land Acquisition Scam

Latur: The former Beed District Collector was arrested by Beed police from Latur on Thursday in connection with the alleged land acquisition compensation scam.

The accused has been identified as Avinash Pathak (55), a resident of Hatte Nagar, Latur. He was arrested after legal procedures.

According to police, a case was registered at Shivajinagar Police Station in Beed against 10 persons, including Avinash Pathak, over allegations of fraudulent land acquisition compensation orders. Investigators suspect that fake compensation approvals were issued using Pathak’s name, designation, and forged signatures even after his transfer from Beed district.

The arrest operation was carried out under the leadership of Assistant Superintendent of Police Venkataraman (IPS), who is currently holding additional charge of the Beed subdivision as well as the Kej subdivision.

The case has been registered under multiple sections of the BNS, including Sections 318(4), 316(5), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 198, 199, 316(2), and 351(4), along with Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 14 and 34 of the relevant mediation and conciliation provisions.

Following the seriousness of the allegations, a special investigation team from Beed reached Latur on Thursday morning. With assistance from the Latur district police, the team detained and formally arrested the accused for further investigation.

A special police team from Beed arrived in Latur early Thursday morning. Since Pathak’s residence falls under the jurisdiction of Gandhi Chowk Police Station, he was called there for questioning and later taken into custody.

After his transfer from Beed, Avinash Pathak was appointed as Fisheries Commissioner in Mumbai. However, he was reportedly removed from that post shortly afterward. Though he still has a few years of service remaining as an IAS officer, the state government had reportedly kept him without posting due to multiple allegations and questions surrounding his administrative functioning.

Pathak, a native of Latur, had earlier served as additional district collector in Latur during the COVID-19 period. He had also worked as a land acquisition officer in the Dharashiv district.