ED officer under investigation for graft found dead on railway tracks

NEW DELHI: An Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer, Alok Kumar Pankaj, who was under scrutiny in a corruption investigation by both the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), was found dead on a railway track in Sahibabad, near Delhi, on Tuesday, in what appears to be a case of suicide.

Alok Kumar, a Ghaziabad resident who was serving on deputation with the ED in New Delhi, had previously worked with the income tax department. Recently, he had been questioned twice by the CBI in connection with a corruption case but was released due to insufficient evidence.

Pankaj’s name came into the spotlight after an assistant director of the ED, Sandeep Singh, was arrested by the CBI in a bribery case. The investigation began when a complaint was lodged against Singh, alleging that he demanded Rs 50 lakh in exchange for not arresting a person’s son. The CBI set up a sting operation, leading to Singh’s capture while accepting a Rs 20 lakh bribe in Delhi.

Further investigations revealed that Singh had also accepted bribes from a Mumbai jeweller whose store had been raided by the ED. Pankaj was subsequently named as a co-accused in the FIR alongside Singh. Following these events, Singh was reportedly suspended from his position.

The police have transported Pankaj’s body to a mortuary for a post-mortem examination and are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding his death to determine the motive behind the suspected suicide.