Bihar: IAS officer, former MLA arrested in money laundering case

Patna: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested IAS Officer Sanjeev Hans and former RJD MLA of Bihar Gulab Yadav in connection with a money laundering case.

Official sources said ED sleuths arrested Sanjeev Hans in Patna while Gulab Yadav, a former RJD MLA was nabbed in New Delhi. Both are facing charges of money laundering case linked to disproportionate assets.

Action was taken against Hans and Yadav under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The arrests followed raids conducted at locations linked to Yadav and Hans earlier in the day in connection with the case.

Hans, a 1997-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, had previously served as the principal secretary of the Bihar Energy Department and also chairman of Bihar State Electricity Board. Yadav, on the other hand, represented the Jhanjharpur Assembly seat in Madhubani district as a Rashtriya Janata Dal legislator from 2015 to 2020.

The FIR related to the money laundering case was registered on September 14 after the ED shared information with the Special Vigilance Unit (SVU) of Bihar police. It accuses Hans and Yadav of corruption and possessing disproportionate assets.

In August, Hans was transferred to the General Administration Department of the Bihar government. This move came after an earlier round of ED searches.