ED arrests former IAS officer in disproportionate assets case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer Babulal Agarwal in connection with a disproportionate assets case pending against him.This is the second time, the officer is being arrested by a central agency. Earlier, Babulal Agarwal, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, was arrested by the CBI that was probing him in connection with a corruption case.The controversial IAS officer had been in the news for the last one decade.BL Agarwal had been searched by income tax authorities in 2010. The same year, the CBI also registered a case against him. In 2013, the ED also registered a case against the officer under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. The economic offences wing (EOW) of the state government also registered a case against him but filed a closure report.

BL Agarwal was arrested by the CBI in 2017 and then compulsorily retired by the union government. He, however, secured relief from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in 2018. While ordering the reinstatement of the officer, the CAT noted that the said officer’s service record had been reviewed in 2015 on completion of 25 years of service and the officer was retained in service on the basis of the review. The order for compulsory retirement was issued after the review and there was no new development to take punitive action after the review. Agarwal, was however, not reinstated by the state government as per the CAT order.