Gautam Goswami, a 1991 batch IAS officer and winner of the prestigious Time Magazine's "Young Asian Achiever Award" died of pancreatic cancer at a private nursing home in Patna today, hospital sources said.
He was 41 and is survived by his doctor wife and two sons. Goswami, who is also an MBBS, was a resident of Dehri-on Sone in Bihar's Rohtas district and was an accused in the multi-crore Bihar flood relief scam.
He was suffering from the disease for the past several months and was shifted from Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) to the private nursing home on Saturday after his conditioned worsened due to kidney impairment.
Goswami, suspended for his alleged involvement in the flood relief scam, was first admitted to IGIMS on the night of December 31. He was, however, shifted to Rajeshwar Nursing home for dialysis after his condition deteriorated at the IGIMS.
The state government had on December 8 reinstated him in the service on health grounds.
Goswami shot into the limelight in 2004 when as the district magistrate of Patna, he asked senior BJP leader and then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani to leave the dais midway through an election meeting for canvassing beyond the prescribed time limit set by the Election Commission.
He had earned laurels for his efforts in reaching out relief to flood victims in 2004. But less than a year later, he was accused of involvement in defalcation of relief funds along with Anirudh Prasad Yadav alias Sadhu Yadav, brother-in-law of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and 27 others.
