Farmers' complaint leads to CBI raid on Bihar IAS officer

New Delhi: With Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) raids at the residence of District Magistrate (DM) of Aurangabad in Bihar on the charges of corruption, it seems the countdown has begun for all the corrupt officials.

However, the sources have confirmed that the CBI came into action after a complaint against tainted IAS officer was filed by farmers who were 'cheated' by the officer, who had taken the charge of the district as its head about three years ago.

According to sources, the CBI raided about five premises of Aurangabad DM Kanwal Tanuj, a 2010-batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, in different locations. The houses belonging to Tanuj in the cities of Patna, Lucknow, Noida, Delhi and Aurangabad were searched by the CBI on Friday.

While talking to Millennium Post, CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said, "The IAS officer has been accused of withdrawing over Rs 2.5 crore from a beneficiary in lieu of a land given to a firm named Bhartiya Rail Bijlee under the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC). The searches have not been completed yet, so it wouldn't be possible to give details about findings of the raid."

However, the sources have confirmed that the CBI came into action after a complaint against tainted IAS officer was filed by farmers who were 'cheated' by the officer, who had taken the charge of the district as its head about three years ago.

"Tanuj was always under the scanner for his misconduct with the general public as well as political leaders of the area. Cases against have been filed against him for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct by the public," the source said, adding that Tanuj was even not liked by the local leaders of the district, including Aurangabad MP Sushil Singh, due to his 'assertive' style of working.

When the Millennium Post tried to get the comments of the parliamentarian from Aurangabad Sushil Singh over the issue, he refused to talk.

According to CBI sources, the land was given to Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company in Aurangabad for the construction of a power plant.

The Nabinagar Super Thermal Power Project (NSTP) of Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Limited (BRBCL) is a joint venture of NTPC Limited and Indian Railways to install a 4x250 MW thermal power plant at Nabinagar in Aurangabad district, Bihar.