The Gujarat government has suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and former Surendranagar district collector Rajendrakumar Patel following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a bribery-linked money laundering case, officials said on Monday.

Patel, a 2015-batch IAS officer, was arrested by the ED on January 2. On the same day, a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Ahmedabad remanded him to the agency’s custody until January 7 for further interrogation.

In an order issued on Sunday, the state’s General Administration Department said Patel had been placed under suspension as his period of custody exceeded 48 hours, in line with service rules governing All India Services officers.

“Now, therefore, Patel is deemed to have been placed under suspension with effect from January 2 in terms of sub-rule 2 of rule 3 of the All India Services Rules, 1969, until further orders,” the order stated.

Patel had been serving as the collector of Surendranagar district until last month, when he was transferred without any posting. The transfer followed the arrest of deputy mamlatdar Chandrasingh Mori from his office by the ED in connection with the same money laundering case arising out of alleged bribery in land-related approvals.

Subsequently, the ED arrested Patel on January 2 as part of its expanding probe into the alleged corruption network. The federal agency is investigating money laundering involving Patel, Mori and others after registering an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the PMLA.

According to the ED, Patel allegedly fixed bribe rates ranging from ₹5 to ₹10 per square metre for approving applications seeking change of land use (CLU). The agency has alleged that bribes were systematically demanded and collected as “speed money” to expedite CLU approvals and were routed through a network of intermediaries operating from within the district collector’s office.

In its remand application before the special PMLA court, the ED claimed that a detailed “hisaab”, or accounting record, of bribe collections was maintained and periodically transmitted to the district collector’s personal assistant. The agency said this claim was supported by digital evidence recovered during searches.

Investigators have so far traced more than 800 CLU applications in which bribes were allegedly paid. These transactions, the ED said, resulted in the generation of proceeds of crime exceeding ₹10 crore, which form part of a larger money laundering operation under investigation.

The ED has identified Patel as the key beneficiary and the final decision-maker in the alleged bribery-linked racket. As the district collector at the relevant time, Patel was the ultimate authority for granting CLU approvals under the Saurashtra Gharkhed, Tenancy Settlement and Agricultural Lands Ordinance, 1949, as well as the Gujarat Land Revenue Code, 1879.

The agency said Patel’s position enabled him to exercise significant control over the pace and outcome of CLU applications, a power that was allegedly misused to extract illegal payments. The probe is ongoing, and further arrests and attachments of assets have not been ruled out.

The case has once again brought focus on corruption in land administration and the role of enforcement agencies in investigating financial crimes involving senior government officials.