CBI raids premises of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's secretary AP Pathak

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar suffered a major embarrassment on Friday when her secretary, AP Pathak, came under the CBI net.

With the investigating agency registering a disproportionate case (DA) case against him, and conducting raids at seven properties owned by him at four cities across the country, the Lok Sabha Speaker acted swiftly by removing him from his post.

"AP Pathak has been removed with immediate effect from Hon'ble Speaker's Office," a statement issued by the Speaker's office on Friday afternoon said.

Pathak, the statement added, had joined the Speaker's office "after due clearance by the parent ministry of road transport and highways three months back, in June, 2011."

Pathak was not seen in Parliament House on Friday, and the name plate outside his chamber, near the Speaker's office, was summarily removed soon after news came that a CBI team had carried out searches at his residences in the Capital, Gurgaon, Patna and Kanpur.

An official of the 1984 batch of the Central Engineering Service, the 53-year-old Pathak hails from Bihar. He had earlier served Union minister Sriprakash Jaisawal, and Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi, when he was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

The case against Pathak was registered on Thursday by the CBI, which slapped section 13 (2) read with section 13 (1) (e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against him.

The searches at properties owned by him began on Friday morning, and was continuing till late evening.

The DA case was referred to the CBI by the CVC, which had received a string of complaints against him, primarily pertaining to his stints in the National Highway Authority of India and the ministry of finance, where he was director, COFEPASA.

The CBI, during its searches, stumbled upon documents which showed that Pathak owned as many as eight properties, including three in the Capital. Two of them were bungalows, located in the plush South Delhi addresses of Anand Niketan and Satya Niketan.

The third property, an apartment, was in Dwarka. Patna accounted for another three properties. He was also said to be in possession of residential spaces at Gurgaon and Kanpur.