IAS officer kills himself, four family members

A widening Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe that began in Chennai on Wednesday into a massive emigration racket may have triggered the suicide and murder of a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and his family in Orissa on Thursday night.

A CBI source said Jagtanand Panda, one of the senior-most officials in charge of emigration, was under investigation for masterminding the racket involving many officials and travel agents. Panda was an additional secretary in the Union ministry of overseas affairs and the protector-general of emigrants. CBI officials said the officer had gone to his native place soon after the raid.

In raids across Delhi and Chennai, the CBI had recovered cash and property worth Rs4.3 crore from Panda and two accomplices. The case came to light on Wednesday with the arrest of a Chennai official who was the local protector of emigrants. During interrogation, he named Panda.

A senior CBI official said Rs2.13 crore in cash and documents relating to assets worth Rs2.17 crore were recovered from Panda and his accomplices. “We found that the (Chennai) protector of emigrants had offered Rs18 lakh to get his son admitted to an engineering college. Only after recovering all the money and incriminating documents did we realise that it was more than a bribery case,” he said. “We suspect that the money they accumulated was through the emigration racket. But because investigations are on, we cannot say anything about the modus operandi.”