Suspended Town Planning Officer (TPO) Mansukh Sagathiya who was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on charges of disproportionate assets of over ₹10 crore admitted that gold jewellery seized from his office was purchased from corruption money, revealed ACB sources.

He also admitted that most jewellery was purchased illegally, without a valid billing procedure.

Earlier, the ACB raided the office of Sagathiya’s brother located at the Twin Star Tower on 150 Ring Road in Rajkot and seized 22 kg of gold jewellery and gold biscuits, half a kilogram of silver jewellery, diamond jewellery, and ₹3 crore in cash.

The total value of the seized items is estimated to be more than ₹18 crore. During interrogation, Sagathiya claimed that he and his wife were fond of jewellery and had purchased it as an investment. However, he did not initially clarify where he got the funds to buy the jewellery. According to ACB sources, Sagathiya eventually confessed that he had purchased the jewellery with money obtained through corruption.

An investigation is underway to find out if Sagathiya has any unregistered properties (properties purchased in someone else’s name). So far, no such properties have been found during the investigation. The ACB is also investigating Sagathiya’s bank accounts.

A special investigation team (SIT) was constituted to investigate the case. As part of the investigation, the team led by Bipin Ahire, an additional director of the ACB, visited Rajkot on July 6 and conducted a detailed interrogation of Sagathiya.

Notably, Sagathia was suspended after Rajkot fire tragedy at TRP Game Zone that took at least 27 lives, and was later arrested by the ACB for possession of properties beyond his income.

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