Minister Khader denies charges, says IAS officer was paid salary

Food and Civil Supplies Minister U T Khader on Tuesday denied charges that the state government had not paid salary to IAS officer Anurag Tewari, who died recently in Lucknow.

It is not true that the state government had not paid the officer the salary for the past few months as punishment. There was some delay in the salary payment due to some technical issues related to accounts, the minister told DH when his reaction was sought to the accusation made by the family members of the deceased officer in this regard.

Tewari, who was the Food and Civil Supplies Commissioner, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Lucknow while he was walking in the morning. The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a CBI probe into the case following charges of foul play by Tewari’s family members. Mayank, the brother of Tewari, had charged that his brother was about to expose a Rs 2,000 crore scam in the department and that the Karnataka government had punished him by not paying him the salary.  

“The government has treated the officer well. We had given him a free hand at work. We had never denied him leave, which he used to take quite often,” the Khader said and reiterated that there was no scam in the department as charged by Tewari’s family members.

Khader said he has assured the family members of the officer that the state government will extend full co-operation in the investigation and ensure that justice is provided.