SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, June 30: The CBI anti-corruption wing today sealed the flat of the former Director of the Central Institute of Mineral Fuel Research (CIMFR) Dr Pradip Kumar Singh in connection with the Rs139 crore research honorarium scam.
The flat is in Dhirendra Puram colony-based Satyam Shivam Sundaram apartment under the Dhanbad Sadar police station.
The teams of CBI Dhanbad today simultaneously raided the flats of Dr Pradip Kumar Singh at Dhirendra Puram and the residence of senior scientist Dr Ashok Kumar Singh, Coal Sampling Research Quality Assessment Department Head in Digwadih under Jorapokhar police station in the morning.
While the CBI officials sealed the flat of Dr Pradip Kumar Singh after the search operation, the raid was continued till filing the report at the residence of Dr Ashok Kumar Singh. The CBI officials engaged in the search operation refused to share any information with media persons about the recovery of documents related to the scam.
The CBI had on Wednesday filed an FIR against Dr Pradip Kumar Singh and Dr Ashok Kumar Singh in connection with the scam.
The research honorarium scam surfaced in 2022. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) suspended Dr Pradip Kumar Singh one day before his retirement from service as CIMFR director last year.
Dr Ashok Kumar Singh was removed as Department Head of Sampling Assessment 10 days ago.
Over Rs 139 crores were illegally distributed among 553 scientists, technical officials, technical assistants, officers and staff as research honorarium in CIMFR when Dr PK Singh was director.
