THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the appointment of Additional DGP Yogesh Gupta, who was the nightmare of corrupt, money launderers, bank fraudsters and tax evaders during his five years in the CBI and seven years in the Enforcement Directorate (ED), as the head of vigilance, the face of corruption hunting in the state will change. A special vigilance system will be set up on the model of CBI to catch corruption and put the culprits behind bars.

Yogesh has been awarded the President's Medals for Distinguished and Meritorious Services for his excellence in tackling corruption and scams. As ED's Eastern Special Director, Gupta investigated the Sharada, Rose Valley, and Seashore chit scams in Bengal, the Narada bribery tape and the Basil investment scam cases that rocked the country and put top politicians behind bars.

Gupta was the investigating officer of the first two ED cases in which the accused were convicted under the Money Laundering Act. Jharkhand Minister Harinarayan Rai was the first to be convicted in 2017. Gupta was also the first in the country to confiscate the assets of the accused in a drug-related black money case. Ten thousand crores worth of assets were confiscated in Chit fraud cases involving Trinamool leaders.

Yogesh, who is a chartered accountant, was tasked with preventing bank frauds in the CBI. It was Yogesh who investigated 50 bank frauds of twenty thousand crores, SBI gold fraud, airport authority recruitment fraud and arrested Ketan Parekh in the stock fraud case. Corrupt officials of Income Tax, Customs and Railways were arrested. Yogesh also stopped illegal mining and chimpanzee-rhino trafficking in Odisha. Yogesh is a native of Mumbai and has service till April 2030.

"I will take charge of vigilance on Monday. Will make a better system after learning things''

- Yogesh Gupta