Patna: The Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB) on Thursday recovered around Rs 5 lakh in cash and 250 grams of gold and silver jewellery and detected 92 decimals of land in West Bengal during searches at four premises linked to Chandrashekhar Singh, an executive engineer with the Rural Works Department’s (RWD) Quality Testing wing in Saran district. The raids were conducted in connection with an alleged disproportionate assets case involving around Rs 1.10 crore.The land, measuring approximately 31 kathas and located in the Phansidewa police station area of Darjeeling district, is registered in the name of Singh’s wife, Shweta Kumari. Investigators said it was purchased in 2021 and was not mentioned in Singh’s asset declaration submitted to the department for 2025-26.An FIR was registered against Singh on Oct 13 at Vigilance police station under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as amended in 2018.The searches began on Thursday at four locations: Singh’s office in Chhapra; flat number 103 in Saryug Vamika Apartment in Patna; his residence in Lohiya Nagar, Katihar; and the premises in Phansidewa in West Bengal.According to investigators, the 92-decimal plot is located near a national highway and its market value is believed to run into crores of rupees. However, its actual valuation, is yet to be verified.Investigators are examining the land purchase documents, acquisition cost, present market value, source of funds and reasons for its omission from the asset declaration.The searches also yielded around Rs 3 lakh in cash from the Patna flat and approximately Rs 2 lakh from the Katihar residence. Around 250 grams of gold and silver jewellery were recovered from the Katihar premises. Investigators are scrutinising the source of the cash and jewellery.The searches at all four locations were continuing, and the total value of the recoveries and other assets detected will be known after the operation and verification of financial records are completed.
