Patna: A government clerk from Bihar, who was caught red-handed accepting a bribe from a villager, has been found to be owning as many as 75 land plots located in various parts of the state during the course of investigations.
Kumar Manish, a revenue employee/circle inspector posted in Vaishali district, was arrested last month by the vigilance investigation bureau for accepting a bribe of Rs50,000 from a local villager for land mutation. The vigilance sleuths were simply stunned when they scanned the assets of the arrested clerk and his wife.
During the investigation, the arrested employee was found to be owning properties worth over Rs90 million disproportionate to his known source of income. “His total earning from salary is around Rs7.5 million during the past 27 years when he joined the government job in September 1993 but he was found to have earned over Rs90 millions,” said a vigilance official wishing not to be quoted.
According to the official, the corrupt revenue clerk was also found to be in possession of 75 land plots in various locations during investigations.
“We have mentioned 25 land plots in his name and his wife in the First Information Report (FIR) but rest of the purchase deeds are in the name of others. We strongly suspect that the arrested employee gave his ill-gotten money to others to purchase lands on his behalf. The moment we establish this, the rest 50 land plots will also be included in the FIR,” the official added.
Daily income
The official informed the arrested clerk was so shrewd that his daily income was around Rs150,000 from the bribe. The vigilance officials suspect that the accused might have hidden the huge amount of ill-gotten money somewhere but they are yet to locate the cash. According to them, they have been constantly digging the empty areas in his house and the cold storage which he also owned but their efforts have gone in vain so far.
The vigilance officials say the disproportionate assets amassed by the accused government employee is one of the biggest unearthed by the department concerned in the state in the past many years.
Corruption continues to flourish in the state despite the state government legislating some harsh laws to tame the graft cases in Bihar which include confiscating the property and bungalows of the officials and turning them into schools and orphanages.
So far, the bungalows of at least four top government officials have been converted into schools and orphanages. These officials include—Shiv Shankar Verma, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official who served as secretary to the minor irrigation department, Narayan Mishra, former Indian Police Service (IPA) officer who served as Director General of Police, Bihar, motor vehicle inspector Raghuvansh Kunvar and Girish Kumar, assistant in the office of Patna District Magistrate.
According to an official report, around 1,500 cases related to corruption have been registered by the Vigilance Department in the past 15 years while 898 officials were arrested taking bribe red-handed. Of the total officials arrested, 153 have been convicted while 30 of them had their property confiscated so far. The government has now promised sustained and intensive campaigns against such people.
