The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested retired 1980-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Yogesh Kumar in Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar over alleged irregularities in the 2014 recruitment of nearly 1,000 livestock extension officers.
The state government, however, has not yet sanctioned his prosecution. “Yogesh Kumar was arrested from Gomti Nagar in Lucknow after evidence was found against him. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has repeatedly targeted previous governments over alleged recruitment irregularities while projecting his administration’s emphasis on transparent, merit-based selection.
Kumar, 72, was the principal secretary of the animal husbandry department when the recruitment process took place in 2014. The arrest brings recruitment exercises during the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) regime back into focus ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. The examination was held on February 2, 2014, for 1,198 livestock extension officer posts across 17 divisions, excluding Saharanpur. 1,005 candidates were selected, trained, and appointed, according to the recruitment case details. The state government ordered a special investigation team (SIT) probe in December 2017. The SIT police station registered an FIR in 2019 under provisions of the Indian Penal Code relating to criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, conspiracy, and destruction of evidence, along with provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Further legal proceedings are underway,” EOW director general Jai Narain Singh said. The prescribed procedure was bypassed when additional directors sought centralised evaluation of OMR sheets, citing a lack of funds and difficulties at the divisional level, according to EOW.
Investigators had earlier indicated evidence implicating the then animal husbandry minister, Raj Kishore Singh.
