Suspended officer with 220 bank accounts reinstated

An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer here who allegedly had at least 220 bank accounts in various names and had assets worth millions has been reinstated, official sources said Friday.

B.L. Agrawal, a 1988 batch officer, was suspended Feb 11 after the income tax department informed the government that raids at his residence and elsewhere revealed he had opened at least 220 bank accounts in the names of people of Kharora, a village some 40 km from here.

Agrawal was also accused of owning assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

But Agrawal, who has maintained that he was a victim of a "conspiracy" by the income tax department, was named a member of the revenue board late Thursday.

Agrawal was secretary of the agriculture department when he was suspended. The government then handed over the case to the Economic Offences Wing for a through probe.

Official sources said that Agrawal was reinstated because the IT department had failed to provide evidence to substantiate its claims that the money stashed in the bank accounts belonged to him.

But a probe by the Economic Offences Wing will continue along with a department inquiry.