Home ministry deputy secretary under CBI scanner

A deputy secretary in the sensitive Union home ministry is being investigated by CBI for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Devinder Kumar Goel, a 1981-batch Central Secretariat Service officer, is alleged to have made a fortune while serving in several key government ministries, including the ministry of defence where he was posted in 1991.

Goel, who started his career as a section officer, is serving the freedom fighters division of the home ministry in New Delhi since March this year. Before this, he was in the land resources department of the rural development ministry.

Though CBI has pegged Goel’s assets at Rs1.34 crore, his net worth could be several crores of rupees if the worth of his family’s immovable assets is calculated on the basis of current market rates.

An official said CBI valuation was based on the “booking value of a property at the time of purchase”. “If any renovations have been carried out by the accused after purchase, they are calculated on the basis of the market value in that year,” he said.

According to CBI’s investigation and evaluation for the check period 1991 onwards, Goel family’s income should not have allowed it to amass assets worth more than Rs58.71 lakh in the normal course.

Goel’s properties includes a flat each in Mayur Vihar and Gurgaon and three in Dwarka, two shops in Dwarka and Sarita Vihar, two plots in Gurgaon and Saraswati Vihar and an agriculture business in Gurgaon. A flat in Mayur Vihar’s East End apartment has been valued at Rs2.03 lakh, but its current market price should be between Rs70 lakh and Rs1.5 crore.

Similarly, prices of flats in Dwarka start at Rs70-75 lakh and can go up to Rs1-1.5 crore. He has booked a flat each in Delhi in the name of son Kunal and daughter Sanyogita, while wife Sangeeta is chairman and MD of Kunal Agriculture Business Associates.