Rs 1.75 crore in cash seized from Vaishali labour officer’s house

PATNA: The Vigilance Investigation Bureau unearthed movable and immovable assets worth more than Rs8 crore disproportionate to the known sources of income of Hajipur block labour enforcement officer Deepak Kumar Sharma in simultaneous raids on his two locations on Saturday.
The vigilance sleuths recovered Rs1.75 crore in cash, 988gm gold, including 15 biscuits and jewellery worth at least Rs 47.53 lakh and documents of 25 immovable properties worth Rs7 crore as per deed value, from Sharma’s two-storey private residence at Bajrangpuri Colony under Alamganj police station area in Patna City.
The bureau sources said the worth of his disproportionate assets (DA) will increase above Rs10 crore after further scrutiny of papers seized. Sources said documents related to deposits in 42 bank and post office accounts also recovered during raids were yet to be examined.
This is one of the biggest raids conduced in a disproportionate assets (DA) case in the last few years. The vigilance bureau had recovered Rs2.5 crore in cash during such a raid in 2019.
Raid was also conducted at Sharma’s paternal residence at Chandmari Colony under Town police station area in Motihari, East Champaran. But sources said all recoveries took place from his Alamganj residence.
Looking at the amount of cash and jewellery, the raiding team had to requisition a currency counting machine and a government certified evaluator at his Alamganj residence. Sources said the vigilance had registered a case against Sharma on Friday after preliminary inquiry in which his DA was found to be worth at least Rs1.06 crore.
“The initial DA of Rs1.06 crore was calculated after taking into values of 12 immovable properties, including his Alamganj house worth around Rs2.33 crore as per deed value. During raids, the documents of 13 new immovable properties worth Rs4.66 crore deed value were recovered. This brings his rough value of DA after raids to Rs8 crore,” a source said.
“Besides, papers related to investment in 14 separate life insurance policies, 17 debit and credit cards and documents of other investments were also seized. They need detailed scrutiny,” a vigilance source said.
“The market value of his immovable properties is estimated to be ten times more than what has been calculated on the basis of documents,” a source said.
Sharma entered into service in 1999 and his wife Seema Kumari is working with postal department. Sharma earned Rs70 lakh and his wife Rs 80 lakh from their salaries. Their total earnings were calculated at Rs1.69 crore and expenditure at Rs31.33 lakh. Against their estimated Rs 1.37 crore savings, the couple had movable and immovable properties worth Rs 2.44 crore and the vigilance lodged an FIR of DA worth Rs1.06 crore before procuring a search warrant against Sharma.