Indian Administrative Services officer B Chandrakala, who has been accused of corruption in the illegal mining case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), is on education leave as she had enrolled herself as a student of MBA in IIMT University, Meerut in August last year.
A university official, on the condition of anonymity, said that Chandrakala got enrolled in the two-year MBA course in August last year after approval of her study leave.
The official claimed that she was a bright student and attended classes regularly till December end . He, however, refused to comment where she stayed during her studies.
According to CBI sources, the IAS officer is staying at her Noida flat at present.
Meanwhile, expressing ignorance about the whereabouts of Chandrakala, a senior officer in the State Appointment Department said, “Action will be taken against her once the CBI informs the Uttar Pradesh government about the registration of FIR against her in the illegal sand mining case.
“Posted at present as special secretary in the secondary education department, she is on study leave since August 2018,” he said.
CBI has accused Chandrakala, along with 10 others, of criminal conspiracy for illegally granting lease for mining during her posting as DM in Hamirpur district in 2012.
On Saturday, the CBI conducted raids at 14 places across Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, including the residences of Chandrakala in Lucknow and Samajwadi Party MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra in Kanpur and Jalaun. The CBI also raided the residences of some mining department officials and red sand mining lease holders in the case.
During the raids on Chandrakala flat in Lucknow, the CBI seized several documents and some gold jewellery from there. The CBI sleuths also recovered documents related to mining and property, around 4 kg gold and over Rs 2 crore during the raids at other places.
An IAS officer, who does not wish to be named, said along with Lucknow, Noida and Delhi, Chandrakala has invested in land property in her home state Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. She has purchased plots in Ranga Reddy and Karimnagar districts in Telangana as well as Annapurna Nagar in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh.
An IAS officer of 2008 batch, she has a large following on social media. Her Facebook page has 86 lakh followers -- more than SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Union home minister Rajnath Singh.
During her stint as DM, Bulandshahar, she liked to be projected as ‘Dabaang’ IAS officer and her videos reprimanding municipal corporation officers for poor quality construction of pavement and sewer line went viral. In the video, she is heard threatening the officials of registration of FIR if they indulged in corruption. Later she lodged a case against the contractors in the local police station.
She also lodged an FIR against a youth who allegedly took a selfie with her without her consent and posted on social media. When local journalists questioned her about sending an innocent person to jail, she threatened to send unknown persons to their house for selfie with their female family members.
A PCS officer, who was posted in Hamirpur, said she was popularly known as ‘Didi’ by local women and school girls. She often visited schools to take stock of classes and ensured that women got the benefit of the welfare schemes. In Meerut, where she was posted as DM in 2016-17, she made surprise checks in a government schools and admonished the class teachers when the students failed to answer questions asked by her.
Coming from a Scheduled Tribe community settled in Karimnagar district, Chandrakala has completed MA in Economics in from Osmanai University through distance education.
First Published: Jan 08, 2019 10:23 IST
