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Bihar vigilance arrested 126 officials in 2007

Patna: The Bihar Vigilance Department has arrested 126 officials, including several top police and civil officers, on graft charges in 2007.

The drive against corruption has been further intensified with the bureau laying 12 traps in the first 39 days of the current year and arresting 14 government servants, Additional Director General (vigilance) Neelmani said here on Sunday.

Mr. Neelmani said against the average registration of 25-30 cases in the years before 2005, 103 cases of corruption were registered in 2006 and 133 in 2007.

He said his department arrested 68 government officials in 2006 after a new Government led by Nitish Kumar came to power in the State in November 2005.

The vigilance wing laid 108 traps in 2007 and arrested 126 officials. Among them were former Bihar Director General of Police and then DG (homeguards) Narayan Mishra, Madhepura District Magistrate Hemchandra Jha, besides divisional forest officers, jail superintendents, engineers, civil surgeons, government doctors and bank managers, he said.

All were caught while allegedly accepting bribe, Mr. Neelmani said.

The anti-corruption crackdown was carried out by two wings of the vigilance department -- State Vigilance Commission (SVC) and Special Vigilance Unit (SVU).

The SVC was constituted on the lines of the Central Vigilance Commission last year and the SVU comprised retired officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Mr. Neelmani said property worth over Rs 8 crore amassed by government officials beyond their known sources of income were identified during 2007.

Disproportionate assets (DA) cases were lodged against errant officials including Hemchandra Jha, then DM of Madhepura, Prem Kumar, Superintendent of Sitamarhi jail, Akhilesh Kumar Sharma, executive engineer (building construction), Nawada, and a host of other officers during the period.

The drive against corruption has been further intensified with the State vigilance bureau holding 12 traps in the first 39 days of the current year and arresting 14 government servants, he said.

Mr. Neelmani said against the average registration of 25-30 cases in the years before 2005, 103 new cases of corruption were registered in 2006 and 133 in 2007.

The vigilance ADG said while on an average investigations about 15 cases were completed till 2005, investigations in 99 cases concluded in 2006 and in 2007.

The investigations, he said, related to corruption cases against 396 gazetted officers, 332 non-gazetted officers and 215 non-public servants against whom chargesheets were submitted.

Mr. Neelmani said, a special court, perhaps first in the country, solely aimed at fast trial of trap cases, had started functioning. He expressed confidence that the number of trap cases would go up further as the bureau was getting a large number of tip-offs from the public after the department constituted a corruption control squad and made public its four mobile numbers. “People are now calling directly to control squad and passing information about the corrupt officials and helping the bureau in laying traps,” he said.

Mr. Neelamani said besides Muzaffarpur and Bhagalpur, the bureau’s regional offices had started functioning at Siwan and Saharsa and very soon an office at Gaya in south Bihar would be set up.

The government has decided in principle to give 15 per cent of salary as special allowance and provide one promotion to deputy superintendents and junior officers during their deputation in the department. -- PTI

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Bihar vigilance arrested 126 officials in 2007

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