Guwahati, May 23: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (V&AC), Assam on May 22 carried out another search operation at a property linked to arrested ACS officer Lachit Kumar Das and recovered cash amounting to ₹1.18 crore along with documents related to land holdings.
According to the anti-corruption agency, the search was conducted at a residence located in Queen’s Garden, Ranibagan in Beltola, Guwahati, a day after Das was arrested in an alleged bribery case. Officials said the recovered cash and documents were seized and are currently being examined as part of the investigation.
Das, who was serving as Additional Director of Land Records, had earlier been arrested in a trap operation for allegedly accepting ₹45,000 from a complainant in connection with the issuance of a no-objection certificate for land sale permission.
The V&AC stated that the complainant had approached the agency after allegedly being asked to pay ₹1 lakh to facilitate the issuance of 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 money inside his office chamber.
Following his arrest on May 21, vigilance officials had also conducted an overnight search at his residence in Rani Bagan, Beltola Tiniali, which continued until around 1.30 am on May 22. During that operation, the team reportedly recovered ₹48.38 lakh in cash from a locker inside the residence.
Investigators had also seized fixed deposit certificates worth around ₹80 lakh, insurance-related documents, records of multiple bank accounts and documents linked to landed properties belonging to Das and his family members.
Authorities said detailed scrutiny of the financial and property-related records recovered during the operations is continuing.
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.
