Bengal IAS officer arrested for siphoning off funds

Siliguri, July 16: An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Godala Kiran Kumar, was arrested on 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.

IANS