Overview
- ACB teams intercepted the officer’s government vehicle late last weekend and recovered about Rs 5.51 lakh in cash and gift vouchers during an initial search.
- Follow‑up searches of a government‑allotted quarter in Gandhinagar and a private home in Surat yielded cash of about Rs 1.76 crore plus gold and silver valued near Rs 88.8 lakh, taking total seized assets to roughly Rs 2.65 crore.
- An FIR under sections 13(1)(b) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 was filed and the officer, A. B. Chaudhary, has been arrested in a disproportionate‑assets and bribery probe.
- ACB officials say Chaudhary admitted that money found in his car came from bribes and that he approved more than 100 solar project files in a short span without mandatory site visits, so those approvals are now under review.
- Investigators are tracing bank accounts, lockers, properties and family assets and will examine cleared files to identify businesses, subordinate staff or others who may have benefited, a step that could expose wider procedural gaps in solar project approvals.