Bihar: Survey official caught taking Rs 1.5 lakh bribe

PATNA: The ongoing land survey seems to have become a way of minting money for some of the government officials engaged in this work. State vigilance sleuths on Wednesday arrested a special land survey-cum-settlement officer (kanungo) while taking Rs1.50 lakh bribe in Purnia district. The accused Saurav Kumar is posted in Banmankhi circle of Purnia.
A complaint was lodged against him by one Ashok Kumar Bhagat of Banmankhi on October 18. The complainant had accused him of demanding bribe to get his name registered in the land settlement survey. "Probe was initiated by the Vigilance Bureau of Investigations and the allegations were found true," read an official statement to the press.
Saurav was caught while accepting Rs1.50 lakh as a bribe near the survey camp at Dharhara in Banmankhi circle.
A day before, the vigilance sleuths had caught two officials involved in the survey work from Barbigha block in Sheikhpura district while accepting Rs70,000 as bribe.
Those arrested included Sanjeet Kumar, a kanungo, and Chote Lal Soni, a special survey amin.