Overview
- The Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta led multi‑city searches at nine premises tied to Superintendent Engineer Shivram Semil, with teams led by SP Rajesh Sahay carrying out the operation on Tuesday, July 21.
- Initial Lokayukta tallies put related expenditures at about Rs 7.16 crore, later reassessments reported intermediate figures near Rs 14.54 crore and the current preliminary aggregate is about Rs 17.12 crore, figures that investigators say remain subject to verification.
- Searches recovered documents for residential properties, company offices and transformer/electrical-equipment factories that appear registered in the names of Semil’s relatives and associated firms, raising suspected benami concerns.
- Investigators identified bank accounts linked to Semil, family members and related firms with a combined balance of about Rs 62.89 lakh; banks were asked to freeze those accounts and the Lokayukta has sought income‑tax and SEBI records for forensic checks.
- A criminal case under Sections 13(1)(b) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been registered and the probe remains active while authorities verify asset valuations and service and financial records, which could lead to prosecution if discrepancies are proved.