Day after raid,IAS couple suspended

A day after the Income Tax Department recovered more than Rs 3 crore in cash from the residence of IAS couple Arvind Joshi and Tinoo Joshi,the Madhya Pradesh government on Friday suspended them”with immediate effect”,without even waiting for a formal report from the IT Department.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that though investigation would “go on”,the recovery of more than Rs 3 crore in cash was “suspicious enough to warrant action” against the couple,both principal secretaries. Arvind Joshi was only last week transferred to Jail and Parliamentary Proceedings Department after a six-year stint with Water Resources Department,which has a budget of hundreds of crores,and was yet to assume charge. His wife,a 1979 batch IAS officer,was posted in the Women and Child Welfare Department after a stint at the Centre.

IT sleuths raided the couple’s bungalow in the posh 74 Bungalow locality of Bhopal on Thursday and recovered Rs 25 lakh in foreign currency. On being questioned,Joshi revealed he had made investments of Rs 2.25 crore in his mother’s name. The couple had also made investments in the name of Joshi’s father H M Joshi,a retired IPS officer,and their son Ishan.

IT officials also said they seized 220 passbooks showing deposits to the tune of Rs 40 crore and Rs 18 crore in cash,during the raids at Chhattisgarh Agriculture Secretary B L Agrawal’s properties.