PATNA: Two district transport officers (DTOs) of Bihar are now facing action from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which registered complaints against them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The officers—Ajay Kumar Thakur and Rajnish Lal—were posted in Jehanabad and Muzaffarpur, respectively when searches were conducted at their residential premises by Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB).
During the research operation, the VIB sleuths had detected a cash deposit of Rs.90 lakh and investments worth Rs.70 lakh in insurance policies in the name of Thakur and his close relatives in November last year. Documents related to the purchase of land in Muzaffarpur, Patna in Bihar and in Ranchi and Jamshedpur in Jharkhand were seized by the members of the raiding team from Thakur's residential premises.
Similarly, a disproportionate assets case was lodged at the VIB police station against Rajnish Lal in June 2021 when he was posted as DTO of Muzaffarpur. During a search of his flat in Patna's Kankarbagh, the VIB team had recovered Rs.51 lakh cash and jewellery worth Rs.60 lakh. In addition, jewellery worth Rs.20 lakh was detected in the locker of the former Muzaffarpur DTO.
Both the officers were put under suspension after cases of disproportionate assets were registered at the VIB police station. A senior official of the ED said, “The process of attachment of property will start soon. We have already registered cases against the two officers under PMLA on the recommendation of the VIB.”