Patna: In the past few weeks, several cases of corrupt officials being caught by probe agencies have come to light in the state, exposing a pattern of officials secretly amassing wealth by exploiting their positions of power.In several instances, safes were found overflowing with cash, forcing officers of the Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB), Special Vigilance Unit (SVU), and Economic Offences Unit (EOU) to use machines to count the seized currency.On March 18, the EOU conducted raids at seven premises linked to Manoj Kumar Rajak, executive engineer of North Bihar Power Distribution Corporation Limited (NBPDCL), in Darbhanga, Supaul, and Madhubani. The action was taken in connection with a case of disproportionate assets, where Rajak has been accused of amassing assets 62% higher than his known sources of income. During the raids, officials recovered documents related to 31 plots of land, a fuel station, a gas agency, multiple bank accounts, houses, tea gardens, and properties stretching from Darjeeling to Nepal. According to EOU officials, he amassed over Rs50 crore through illegal means. He has been taken into custody.Earlier, on March 13, the SVU conducted a raid at the Patna premises of Pankaj Kumar, DGM (projects) at Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited (BMSICL), in connection with a disproportionate assets case. During the operation, Kumar allegedly threw cash out of the window. The SVU team recovered Rs32 lakh in cash from his home, along with diamonds, gold and silver jewellery worth approximately Rs1.31 crore. Several land documents were also seized from his place.On March 2, Roshan Kumar, assistant engineer and district education project officer in Bettiah, West Champaran, was arrested by the VIB while accepting a bribe of Rs5 lakh and a smartwatch. A subsequent search led to the recovery of Rs42.5 lakh in cash from his room.On Feb 2, the VIB arrested Paramjay Kumar, assistant director in the youth employment and skill development department, in Patna, after catching him red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs5 lakh. Several bundles of currency notes were recovered from his car. Vigilance officials said he had demanded Rs10 lakh in exchange for clearing funds allocated under office expenses and machinery equipment heads of Industrial Training Institutes.In another case, Aman Kumar, a junior engineer with Saheganj Nagar Parishad in Muzaffarpur district, was arrested by the SVU on Feb 19 while accepting a bribe of Rs9,000 to process payment for a paver block installation project.
