Two years after registering a disproportionate assets case against him, the CBI on Tuesday arrested former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Akhand Pratap Singh for allegedly amassing wealth through corrupt means.

The 1967-batch IAS official of Uttar Pardesh cadre retired as the state chief secretary in December 2003. The CBI claimed it had enough evidence to nail him.

Singh was arrested from his Vasant Kunj farm house while making a bid to escape when CBI sleuths knocked at his door, the sources said.

A senior CBI official said that Singh tried to escape from the rear of his farm house and could not flee due to traffic jam. The CBI had registered a case against him on March 22, 2005, and carried out searches at three places in Delhi, seven places in Lucknow, two places in Bahraich (UP) and four places in Nainital (Uttarakhand).

According to the FIR lodged by the probe agency, the accused official held various sensitive positions in the UP Government and also at the Centre.

He is accused of acquiring huge properties in his name and in the name of his family members and others, besides possessing a fleet of vehicles under various names.

Singh, the CBI alleged, was leading an extravagant life-style and spent enormous amount on the education and marriage of his two daughters. He had also stashed his ill-gotten earnings in overseas banks and made several private trips abroad.