Ahmedabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which on late Wednesday evening arrested 2011-batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer Kankipati Rajesh for allegedly seeking bribes to grant arms licences and allotment of government land in the name of “ineligible beneficiaries”, was produced in a CBI court on Thursday and the police have a remand of 10 days for him.
The allegations against him are related to his tenure as Surendranagar district collector. The court order on the police remand plea was awaited.
The central agency had lodged an offence against K Rajesh on May 20 following a series of raids at his Gandhinagar office, his official residence as well as at his home in Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh.
“K Rajesh has been formally arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the First Information Report (FIR) lodged against him in May this year,” said a CBI official.
The central agency had earlier arrested a Surat-based businessman Mohammad Rafiq Memon, proprietor of Jeans Corner in the Haripura area, for allegedly collecting bribes on behalf of the IAS officer.
The CBI has stated that the case was registered after a preliminary inquiry on the “request of the Gujarat government in the matter”.
Currently, Rajesh is posted as joint secretary to the government, General Administration Department (NRI and ART), in Gandhinagar. He was the district collector of Surendranagar in 2021. He also served as District Development Officer in Surat from 2017 to 2018.
Initially, a complaint was lodged against Rajesh in New Delhi for financial irregularities related to land and arms licence-related applications during his tenure as Surendranagar district collector from April 2018 to June 2021. An inquiry was launched against Rajesh in 2021.
