Follow us on Google News
Patna: Bihar’s Economic Offences Unit on Tuesday conducted simultaneous searches at four locations linked to Kishanganj District Programme Officer Ruby Kumari and her husband Gaurav Kumar, a railway employee, unearthing evidence of disproportionate assets estimated at around Rs 2.54 crore. Operating on search warrants issued by the Special Vigilance Court in Patna following the registration of case number 31/26, five specialized teams led by officers of Deputy Superintendent of Police rank launched raids around 8:30 am across Kishanganj and Katihar, continuing their operation for nearly eight hours. Preliminary assessments revealed that the couple had amassed wealth approximately 87.49 percent in excess of their known, legitimate sources of income by allegedly misusing their positions.
Simultaneous Raids Across Four Locations in Kishanganj and Katihar
The searches targeted the administrative and residential properties of both officials in Kishanganj and Katihar districts. In Kishanganj, investigators searched Ruby Kumari’s government office located within the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan campus in Ruidhasa, as well as her rented accommodation in the Line Mohalla area. Simultaneously, another set of teams conducted searches at two separate premises connected to her husband in Officers’ Colony, situated in the Mirchaibari locality under the Sahayak police station limits of Katihar. The coordinated operation aimed to trace financial trails, banking documents, and property deeds tied to illicit transactions.
Multiple Land Deeds and Five-Storey House Uncovered
Investigators discovered crucial documents relating to 10 to 11 plots of land located in prime areas, holding an estimated market value of about Rs 3 crore. In a posh locality of Katihar, the agency located a newly constructed five-storey luxury residence built across eight decimals of land, where expensive interior fitting and decoration work was actively underway. The agency also found a suspicious Scorpio vehicle, believed to be held as a benami asset, along with multiple bank passbooks and deposit slips showing regular cash installments credited into various accounts. An official valuation team has been assigned to determine the exact expenditure incurred on the multi-storey residence and the recovered land plots.
Cash, Valuables and Service Record Details
During the searches, investigators recovered between Rs 2.80 lakh and Rs 2.84 lakh in cash, alongside approximately 220 grams of gold and jewellery ornaments valued preliminarily at up to Rs 60 lakh. Due to locked Godrej almirahs at the Katihar residence, a laborer had to be called to break open the locks, while local jewellers from Mirchaibari were brought in by officials to verify the purity and weight of the seized precious metals. Service records indicate that Ruby Kumari entered the Bihar Education Service in 2018 through the state selection process, while her husband Gaurav Kumar joined the railways in 2004 as an assistant loco pilot and is currently posted at Katihar railway station. Agency officials noted that the total value of disproportionate wealth may rise substantially as banking records, land title documents, and luxury household investments undergo complete technical valuation.
