Patna, June 10, 2026
The Bihar Special Vigilance Unit (SVU) on Wednesday intensified its crackdown in the alleged Rishu Shree tender scam case by arresting three government officials in connection with corruption allegations linked to contract allocations and bill clearances.
The arrests were made in connection with SVU Case No. 5/25.
Those arrested include Mumukshu Chaudhary, Joint Secretary, Finance Department, Government of Bihar; Tarani Das, Chief Engineer, Bihar Construction Department (BCD); and Umesh Kumar Singh, Executive Engineer, Urban Development and Housing Department (UDHD).
According to an official, the SVU is currently interrogating the arrested accused. They are likely to be produced before a court later in the day.
Meanwhile, senior IAS officer Sanjeev Hans, also named in the case, remains untraceable. Sources indicated that he is believed to be out of Patna, and SVU teams are conducting raids at multiple locations to locate him.
The case has already led to disciplinary action by the Bihar government, which suspended IAS officers Abhilasha Sharma and Yogesh Kumar Sagar in connection with the investigation.
The alleged scam is also under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had earlier conducted raids and reportedly recovered crores of rupees from premises linked to the accused officials.
According to ED investigation documents, several officials were allegedly involved in accepting bribes in exchange for awarding government contracts and clearing project bills.
The names mentioned in the records include Awaz Ahmad, Deputy Project Director, BUIDCO; Sagar Jaiswal, DGM (Projects), BMSICL; Vikash Jha, DGM, BMSICL; and Saket Kumar, Executive Engineer, Bihar Construction Department (BCD), as well as those arrested by the SVU.
The investigation reportedly found that financial entries under heads such as Miscellaneous and Upfront Payment in several infrastructure projects were linked to alleged illegal payments to officials.
Among the projects under scrutiny are 33 drain bioremediation projects, the Biharsharif STP and sewerage network project, the Muzaffarpur STP and sewerage network project, and the Biharsharif Smart Road project.
The ED documents further mention that Santosh Kumar allegedly admitted during questioning that cash was generated through inflated or fictitious project expenditures. According to the allegations, the money was later used to bribe officials and acquire immovable property.
The developments mark a major escalation in one of Bihar’s most closely watched corruption investigations involving senior bureaucrats, contractors, and infrastructure projects.(Agency)
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