If you come under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), even death can’t save you from ignominy. This is what happened to late Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer Arvind Joshi, whose assets worth several crores—including residential and agricultural lands and a resort—were attached by the ED on Friday in a money laundering case against him.

Joshi, who died in 2022 at the age of 68, has been facing an ED investigation in an alleged Rs 41.87-crore disproportionate assets (DA) money laundering case along with his retired IAS wife, Tinoo Joshi, for more than eight years now. Joshi was a former principal secretary-level officer.

The couple belonged to the 1979 batch of IAS and caught the attention of the probe agencies after the Income Tax Department raided their Bhopal residence in February 2010 on charges of tax evasion and recovered Rs 3 crore in cash.

The ED said in a statement that a provisional order had been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach residential plots, agricultural lands, and a functional resort located in Bhopal district.

The ED has called these properties “proceeds of crime” registered in the name of Joshi, his family members, and his “benami” associate, S P Kohli.

The federal agency alleged that their assets were 3,151.32 percent more than their known sources of income, leading to the two being finally dismissed from service. The agency had earlier issued a similar attachment order against them and filed a chargesheet against them.

The money laundering case was filed on the basis of a MP Lokayukta Police FIR for possessing DA between July 1979 and December 10, 2010.