The art of serving Politicians and enriching thyself – Part 1

What’s in a name?

Mr. Ramesh Abhishek Agrawal rarely (in fact almost never officially) mentions his full name. So what is in a name, you ask? Well that thought crossed my mind too and I asked him the same and I have not got a reply thus far, so I can only guess that it was convenient for him to hide it(the Agrawal part). Perhaps he wanted to be all things to all people – hailing from Odisha, of Bihar cadre and a Marwari – divulge the last name on a “need only” basis.

Aiming for high office in Modi 2.0?

Having created a royal mess as a Chairman of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) where he displayed stunning ineptness and diabolical mindset ruining some companies while saving many, he now hopes to land a plum posting as a Secretary of a Department or even the Cabinet Secretary, the highest honour an IAS officer can aspire for!

According to a whistleblower who has registered a complaint with the office of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), copying the Office of the Lokpal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) among others, that he is singularly disqualified from holding any post in the Government. The complaint is detailed, listing his acts of “omission” right from his early days as a bureaucrat in Bihar, doing favors for Lalu Prasad Yadav and how he has allegedly acquired wealth disproportionate to his income.

A quick look at Figure 1 below shows that for someone who is making Rs.225,000 a month, it would take decades to amass so much wealth.

Lalu’s Man Friday?

In some states like Bihar, IAS officers can function as District Magistrates (DM) too[1]. As DM Patna, Ramesh Abhishek (RA) helped Lalu in every possible way – be it curfew in select areas when it suited Lalu or organizing booths in a particular way. When I used to vote (the seventies and eighties), the voting booth for middle-class neighborhoods will be kept at the edge of the allowed distance for a polling booth from the residents (I think it was 1.5 km). While it is easy to blame the Middle class for not voting, this too was a reason.

The Election Commissioner passed strictures against him for his conduct – but when Lalu became the Chief Minister, he gave the prized Finance Ministry to Mr. S P Tekriwal, the brother of Abhishek’s father-in-law! He allegedly played a significant role in fodder scam too and because of the illegal stuff he did for Lalu, he could not go to the Center on deputation. But the resourceful RA went as Personal Secretary to Ms. Kanti Singh (a close friend of Lalu), who had become a Central Minister at that time. After a few years, thanks to his boss Rajiv Agarwal, the then Secretary of Consumer Affairs, he got an assignment in the FMC.

Continued…

References:

[1] In conversation with Dr V R Sampath IPS – May 4, 2018, YouTube channel of PGurus

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Sree Iyer

An inventor and out-of-the-box thinker, Sree Iyer has 37 patents in the areas of Hardware, Software, Encryption and Systems.

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