Bihar: Vigilance dept raids govt staffer’s house, seizes Rs 1 crore

In a latest crackdown on government officials in Bihar, the Vigilance Department on Saturday conducted raids at the residence of a government engineer posted in the Rural Works department in Kishangaj district and claimed to have seized Rs 1 crore of unaccounted cash.

The vigilance team raided the residence of Sanjay Kumar Rai who is an Executive Engineer of the Kishanganj Division of Rural Works Department (RWD).

A senior official said an FIR has also been registered against Rai. “We carried out an investigation and registered an FIR against him. Raids were conducted today at his premises in Kishanganj. Cash around ₹1 crore has been recovered, and some documents and jewellery have also been recovered,” DSP, vigilance department, Sujit Sagar told news agency ANI.

While raids are currently underway at the engineer’s residence, the officials have also recovered a huge amount of money and jewellery, according to the news agency.

The team targeted Rai after receiving information about bribes from the junior engineer and cashiers, according to sources. Submitting a case in the disproportionate assets case, the vigilance department conducted raids and found about ₹ 1 crore in cash in the search at the residence of Executive Engineer Sanjay Kumar Rai on Indrapuri Road No 10 of Patna, said ANI report.

Meanwhile, the investigation team has started matching the notes. Several other documents have also been found in the raid. Raids are going on in the disproportionate assets case. A note counting machine has been installed due to the recovery of the huge amount of cash.

According to the vigilance department, several raids are underway in Bihar in connection with bribery involving Rai. Earlier, it was said cash worth over ₹4 crore was recovered during multiple raids.

Only a couple of days ago, the Central Bureau of Investigation carried out searches at 25 locations in connection with a case filed on May 18 against Bihar’s ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his family members, and 12 others in a jobs-for-land case. The case dated back to 2008-09 when Lalu was the railway minister. It triggered strong reaction from the RJD with several top leaders, including deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, accusing Centre of misusing the central agencies. Tejashwi called it “political vendetta”. – IANS