Shri Suman Kumar, Inspector with the CBI has been awarded the CBI Gold Medal for Best Investigating Officer for the year 2002 for his outstanding contribution in the field of investigation. The Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh presented the medal to Suman Kumar here today.

Shri Suman Kumar intelligently and tactfully handled several intricate issues of a disproportionate assets case involving a senior Govt. official. As per the FIR, the disproportionate assets were to the tune of Rs.11 lakh including several bank deposits and other investments. However, during searches, nothing much was detected except a couple of bank accounts/deposits in govt. schemes. The accused also did not come up with the required information about his accounts. Therefore, the Investigating Officer was faced with the up-hill task of locating the said bank accounts/deposits. It was on account of the Investigating Officer’s meticulous investigation and sustained efforts that the investigation finally yielded results beyond expectations and the disproportionate assets were discovered to the tune of Rs. 1.3 crore. The Investigating Officer unearthed 170 account deposits in 50 branches of 21 banks located in five cities having balances worth over Rs.80 lakh.

The Investigating Officer further detected 260 deposits in 69 private companies with investments worth about Rs.33 lakh. While the process of detection was still at the initial stage, the accused govt. official taking advantage of the non-availability of information with CBI regarding his accounts and assets, succeeded in closure of a large number of accounts in various banks and also withdrew a large amount of cash. However, the Investigating Officer succeeded in detecting these closed accounts and also transfer of these accounts to other accounts. Besides, the Investigating Officer also successfully demolished the false documentary evidence introduced by the accused at a stage when the investigations were nearing completion. The accused through his wife submitted attested photo copies of 86 bills purportedly reflecting purchases of jewellery etc. worth Rs.86 lakh by a jeweler of Indore from the wife of the accused. The accused took the plea that all the assets were out of the sale proceeds of such jewellery etc. received by his wife at the time of marriage as gift. Through sustained investigation and skillful interrogation, the Investigating Officer succeeded in proving the false and fabricated evidence. The Investigating Officer also concluded the investigation within three months even though he had to carry out investigation in far away places such as, Mumbai, Pune, Indore, Dehradun and Lucknow.