Vigilance arrests Bihar clerk for allegedly taking Rs 20,000 bribe; EOU raids engineer in DA case
Patna, Oct 8 (IANS) Anti-corruption agencies in Bihar carried out separate operations against two government officials on Thursday, with the Vigilance Investigation Bureau arresting an Animal Husbandry Department clerk for allegedly accepting a Rs 20,000 bribe, while the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) searched five premises linked to an executive engineer in a disproportionate assets case.
In the first case, the Vigilance Investigation Bureau arrested Vijay Kumar, a Lower Division Clerk posted at the Animal Husbandry Department office in Danapur, while he was allegedly accepting a Rs 20,000 bribe near the AIIMS roundabout.
According to the bureau, Rajendra Prasad, a resident of Naubatpur in Patna, lodged a complaint alleging that Kumar demanded the bribe for processing the release of Rs 6 lakh from his General Provident Fund (GPF) account.
The Vigilance Investigation Bureau said its preliminary verification found the allegation to be substantiated. A trap team led by DSP Asif Iqbal was subsequently constituted and deployed in Danapur.
The accused clerk was allegedly caught accepting the bribe at a paan shop near the AIIMS roundabout. The Vigilance team took him into custody along with the bribe amount.
The accused is expected to be produced before the Special Vigilance Court following further procedural formalities.
In another case, the Economic Offences Unit conducted simultaneous searches at five premises linked to Narad Kumar Das, an Executive Engineer in the Planning and Development Department, in connection with a disproportionate assets case.
According to the Economic Offences Division of Bihar Police Headquarters, EOU Police Station Case No. 28/26 was registered against Das on the basis of information received by the agency.
The case has been registered under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as amended in 2018.
Following the issuance of search warrants by the Special Court (Vigilance), Patna, separate teams led by DSP-rank officers began searches at five locations in Bhagalpur, Munger, Patna and Muzaffarpur on Thursday morning.
The locations searched include Das’s residence at Hanuman Path in Tilkamanjhi, Bhagalpur; premises at Bengali Tola in Belan Bazar, Munger; the government office of the Local Area Engineering Organisation division in Munger; Flat No. 2F at Radhika Apartment in Kazi Mohammadpur, Muzaffarpur; and premises at Kusumpuram Colony in the Rupaspur police station area of Patna.
The EOU said its investigation revealed prima facie evidence that Das allegedly possessed assets worth Rs 83,53,200 in excess of his known and legitimate sources of income.
According to the agency, the alleged excess represents approximately 64.93 per cent of his known income. The search teams are examining documents, financial records and other materials related to the assets at the five locations.
The EOU said details of the assets, documents and other evidence recovered during the searches would be disclosed after the operation is completed.
–IANS
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