Another Bihar government official raided, booked for disproportionate assets

The officer under suspicion, Kauntey Kumar was a native of Ranchi in Jharkhand and currently posted at Gulzarbagh in Patna City road division.

Continuing its tirade against corruption, the Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB) on Tuesday evening searched several houses and an office of an executive engineer in the road construction department (RCD) for possessing disproportionate assets worth ₹1.76 crore. This was the seventh DA case lodged against suspected corrupt government officials in the state this year.

₹15.50 lakh in cash, eight bank account passbooks, gold and silver jewellery worth ₹33.75 lakh along with land and plot related documents were recovered during the raids. (HT Photo)

Verification of documents of his movable and immovable properties at Nityanand Enclave, Gosai Tola and Krishna Apartment in Boring Road in Patna and also at his office chamber in the city was done during the raid, which was conducted following search warrants issued by the special judge, vigilance, Patna, and concluded late Tuesday night.

The officer under suspicion, Kauntey Kumar was a native of Ranchi in Jharkhand and currently posted at Gulzarbagh in Patna City road division. The raids were conducted under the supervision of bureau deputy superintendent of police (DSP) SK Mauar.

VIB said its sleuths recovered ₹15.50 lakh in cash, relevant documents, eight bank account passbooks, gold and silver jewellery worth ₹33.75 lakh alongwith land and plot related documents during the raids. The seized documents revealed that Kauntey Kumar amassed his property in his wife’s name. VIB also found two bank lockers linked to the family and they were frozen during the searches.

The official said that a case of disproportionate assets had been lodged and a preliminary probe suggested that the executive engineer bought properties with ill-gotten money.

“We have recovered passbooks of bank accounts, insurance policies and other documents so far. The total assets will be known in some time,” said an official, who was part of the raiding team but refused to be identified.