Patna: Anti-corruption officers in Bihar have found Rs10 million in cash and two kilograms of gold bars safely kept in the bank locker of a government school teacher earning a petty monthly salary.
The accused teacher is currently posted in a government high school located in Nalanda, the home district of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Acting on information regarding involvement of the teacher in corruption, the officers reached the Bahadurpur branch of the State Bank of India in Patna on Wednesday and opened the locker allotted to the teacher.
Witnesses said the officers were surprised when they found Rs10 million cash in denominations of Rs2000 and eight gold bars, each weighing 250 grams in the locker. “The accused teacher has failed to give his source of income. We have begun investigation into the matter and the teacher is being interrogated,” an official told the media.
The authorities are now investigating if the accused had links with the mafia. However, they have found some links with a construction company owner.
In September, anti-corruption officers in a similar case had registered a disproportionate assets (DA) case against a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who was found to have made negligible withdrawals from his salary account during his 21-year-long service with the police department.
The official was accused of accumulating unaccounted wealth worth Rs25.6 million, which is 85 per cent more than his known sources of income. The accused official was later suspended for his alleged links with the sand mining mafia.
Acting on a tip-off, the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) officers carried out simultaneous raids on various locations of IPS officers in Bihar, Jharkhand and Noida (Uttar Pradesh) to search his properties after his links with the illegal sand mining mafias was established.
What was most surprising was that the accused officer was also found lending millions of rupees earning large amounts of money as interest every month.
Last year, the state government dismissed 85 policemen for their involvement in corruption while many more are still facing departmental proceedings for similar reasons. The government has also taken action against 644 policemen for showing negligence towards duty.
