Ahmedabad, Jan 5 :
The Gujarat government has suspended IAS officer and former Surendranagar Collector Rajendrakumar Patel after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a bribery-linked money laundering case, officials said on Monday.
Patel, a 2015-batch IAS officer, was taken into custody by the ED on January 2. On the same day, a special PMLA court remanded him to ED custody till January 7.
An order issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) on Sunday as per news agency Kashmir News Corner — KNC said Patel has been placed under suspension as his period of custody exceeded 48 hours. The order stated that he is deemed to be under suspension with effect from January 2, in accordance with the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, until further directions.
Patel was last posted as the Collector of Surendranagar and was transferred without a fresh posting last month after the ED arrested Deputy Mamlatdar Chandrasingh Mori in a related money laundering case originating from allegations of bribery.
The central agency is probing alleged money laundering involving Patel, Mori and others after registering an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to the ED, Patel allegedly fixed bribe rates ranging between ₹5 and ₹10 per square metre for clearing change of land use (CLU) applications. These bribes were reportedly collected as “speed money” to fast-track approvals and were routed through a network of middlemen operating from the district collector’s office.
The agency further claimed that detailed accounts of the bribe collections were maintained and periodically shared with the collector’s personal assistant, based on digital evidence recovered during the investigation.
So far, the ED has identified over 800 CLU applications in which bribes were allegedly paid, generating proceeds of crime exceeding ₹10 crore, which form part of a larger money laundering trail.
Investigators maintain that Patel was the principal beneficiary and key decision-maker in the alleged racket. As district collector at the relevant time, he was the competent authority for granting CLU permissions under the Saurashtra Gharkhed, Tenancy Settlement and Agricultural Lands Ordinance, 1949, and the Gujarat Land Revenue Code, 1879, a position that allegedly enabled him to influence and control the approval process. (KNC)