PATNA: Crorepati babus in Bihar are having sleepless nights these days, thanks to the two-pronged strategy of the state government to fight graft.At least 10 senior officers, including IPS, Bihar Administrative Service, and Bihar Police Service, have fallen in the net of the government’s anti-corruption wings. Disproportionate assets worth Rs 50 crore were unearthed in the last three months.
The government has intensified operation against corrupt government employees, and focused on getting them convicted through speedy trials in special courts.The law department last week wrote to the registrar of the high court urging it to conduct a speedy trial of the cases lodged under the Prevention of Corruption Act. “We hope the chief justice will pay attention to our request,” law minister Pramod Kumar said.
An executive engineer of the rural works department, Ajay Kumar Singh, is the latest official to fall in the net of the Vigilance Investigation Bureau on Saturday. The investigating team unearthed Rs 95 lakh in cash, gold jewellery worth Rs 66.51 lakh, and documents related to investments in real estate, bank deposits, and insurance policies. The property belonging to the officer is estimated not less than Rs 5 crore.
A day earlier, simultaneous searches were conducted at the residents of sub-registrar Mani Ranjan in Patna, Samastistipur, and Muzaffarpur which yielded Rs 73.5 lakh in cash besides gold jewelry. He owned an under construction hotel at Muzaffarpur, the market value of which is stated to be Rs 20 crore.