The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked a former CEO-cum-Member-Secretary of the Cantonment Board of Nashik, Ajay Kumar, on charges of giving nod to a real estate development plan to a private developer and in return buying six plots from him in the name of his parents.

On May 3, M Mukherjee, Deputy Secretary (Vigilance), Ministry of Defence, lodged a complaint to the CBI to probe the cantonment land mismanagement. The CBI, acting on the complaint, registered a corruption case against Kumar, the Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES) officer of 2012 batch.

The sleuths later carried out searches at his properties in Lucknow and Bihar’s Jamui.

Under the jurisdiction of the Cantt. Board

According to the CBI, Ajay Kumar while serving as CEO-cum-Member-Secretary of the Cantonment Board, Deolali, Nashik, approved the layout plan of Survey No.282/1, Bhagur, Deolali, owned by M/s Shah & Shah Land Developers, on August 2, 2021.

Subsequently, the Cantt. Board approved it through a letter issued on August 11, 2021. After seven days of granting the approval, which was on August 18, that year, Ajay Kumar relinquished his charge as CEO of the Cantt. Board Deolali, after he was transferred to Bengaluru, the CBI said in the FIR.

Immediately thereafter, he bought six plots at Bhangur, Deolali, with each costing ₹9 lakhs, in his parents’ name, Shiv Shankar Modi and Nirmala Devi. All of them were within the boundary of Cantonment Board, Deolali and part of the layout plan of Shah and Shah Land Developers approved by Kumar, the CBI revealed.

The purchase of plots was done through a sale deed registered on September 15, 2021, at the office of a Joint Sub-Registrar in Nashik.

“It is pertinent to mention that Ajay Kumar had shown his parents as dependents with no source of income vide a certificate dated 12.06.2018,” the FIR read. Further, Special Power of Attorney, executed on September 16, 2021, for the six properties was given by parents of Kumar in the name of his wife Smita Kumari.

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