PATNA: The Special Vigilance Unit (SVU), an anti-corruption wing of the Bihar police, registered an FIR on Wednesday against senior IAS officer Sanjeev Hans and former RJD MLA Gulab Yadav, among others, following recommendations from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The action was initiated after the newly appointed Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena and Director General of Police Alok Raj gave consent for prosecution.
The FIR names Sanjeev Hans, a 1997-batch IAS officer, and Gulab Yadav, along with approximately a dozen other individuals. A senior IPS officer stated that a high-level meeting was held recently to discuss the ED's recommendation.
The ED had conducted searches in Patna, Madhubani, Pune, Kolkata, and Delhi, seizing incriminating documents, luxury watches, cash amounting to Rs.90 lakh, and 13 kg of silver bullion.
Similar raids were carried out in July at the office and residential premises of the Bihar bureaucrat and former MLA from Jhanjharpur in Madhubani district.
Sources indicate that the ED's action followed the registration of a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Locations linked to Hans' batchmate in Mumbai and another business associate in Kolkata, who allegedly facilitated several deals for Hans and Yadav, were also investigated.
Yadav, who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket but was unsuccessful, is among those named in the FIR.
Previously, a woman advocate from Uttar Pradesh had filed a rape case against Hans and Yadav. However, the FIR lodged by the Patna police was recently quashed by the Patna High Court.
The woman had subsequently provided information about business dealings between the IAS officer and the politician to the probe agency.
Sanjeev Hans, who was posted as Principal Secretary-cum-Chief Managing Director of Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited, has been transferred to the General Administration Department following the ED’s searches.