New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said they conducted searches at the residential premise of a former Indian Forest Service officer Abhay Kant Pathak, in connection with a case lodged under PMLA against him and his son.

The case also deals with Disproportionate Assets acquired by them.

An ED official said that during the search they recovered a lot of things along with incriminating documents against him.

"We recovered a Tata Harrier car, documents and other evidence which will be crucial to our case," said ED official.

Abhay and his son Akash were allegedly possessing Rs 9.3 crore disproportionate assets. After an inquiry State Vigilance Directorate (Bhubaneswar) arrested them in 2020.

The vigilance department had then requested the ED to trace their assets which can be seized and to lodge a case if possible. The ED after getting the request decided to lodge a case of PMLA and had started the probe.

During the probe, one MLA Pradeep Panigrahy also came on the radar of the ED. It was alleged that Akash the son of IFS official and Panigrahy allegedly duped jobless people promising them jobs in Tata Motors. It is to be mentioned that Panigrahy was arrested by a local crime branch.

The ED scanned the bank statement of Akash and found them suspicious over which his father Abhay was questioned. The investigation is still going on.

The ED said that they will update about the ongoing probe if they take any stern action.