Assam ACS officer arrested in bribery case; fresh raid recovers Rs 1.18 crore cash from second house

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (V&AC), Assam on May 22, conducted another search operation at a residence linked to arrested ACS officer Lachit Kumar Das and recovered cash amounting to Rs 1.18 crore along with land-related documents.
 

According to the anti-corruption agency, the search was carried out at a house located at Queen’s Garden, Ranibagan in Beltola, Guwahati, a day after Das was arrested in an alleged bribery case. Officials said the cash and documents were seized during the operation and further scrutiny of the recovered materials is underway.
 

Das, an Assam Civil Service officer serving as Additional Director of Land Records (ADLR), had earlier been arrested by the Directorate in a trap operation for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 45,000 from a complainant in connection with issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC) for land sale permission.
 

The V&AC stated that the complainant had approached the agency after allegedly being asked to pay Rs 1 lakh for facilitating the NOC. Acting on the complaint, vigilance officials conducted a hand-to-hand trap operation at the Directorate of Land Records office in Rupnagar, Guwahati, where Das was allegedly caught immediately after accepting the bribe money inside his office chamber.
 

Following his arrest on May 21, vigilance officials carried out an overnight search at his residence in Rani Bagan, Beltola Tiniali, which continued till around 1.30 am on May 22.
 

During that operation, the team recovered Rs 48.38 lakh in cash from a locker inside the house. Officials had also seized fixed deposit certificates worth around Rs 80 lakh, insurance-related documents, details of multiple bank accounts and documents linked to landed properties belonging to Das and his family members.
 

Authorities said analysis of the seized financial and property records is ongoing.
 

A case has been registered at the Anti-Corruption Branch Police Station under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as amended in 2018.