New Delhi, July 26: CBI today filed a disproportionate assets case against income tax officer Anurag Vardhan, who was arrested in may last while allegedly bribing the personal assistant of the then minister of state for finance Gingee Ramachandran for a positing in Mumbai. In the FIR filed in the designated court here, the agency alleged that Vardhan had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, CBI sources said.

The FIR claimed that CBI sleuths had recovered Rs 3.05 lakh in cash during the searches conducted after Vardhan's arrest on May 22, besides the bribe money he allegedly paid to R Perumalswamy, the personal assistant of Ramachandran.


The minister was forced to quit in the wake of the scam. The CBI claimed that the household items of Vardhan were estimated to cost Rs 3.25 lakh, while he had a bank balance of Rs one lakh besides other investments of Rs 15 lakh.

During the corresponding period for which the agency calculated his income and expenditure, the CBI claimed that he had spent over Rs six lakh on his air travel, credit card and mobile phone bills.


The agency alleged that Vardhan, an Indian Revenue Services officer of 1994 batch, had an unexplained income of over Rs nine lakh.
Vardhan was arrested along with Perumalswamy on May 22. Chennai-based chartered accountant A Krishnamurthy, who is alleged to be the middleman in fixing his transfer to Mumbai, was also arrested.

Bureau Report