Shocking recovery! Over Rs 47 lakh seized from house of tainted Excise officer arrested on bribery charges

GUWAHATI, Oct 17: In a development that has raised many eyebrows and also shocking many, Vigilance & Anti-Corruption department sleuths raided the residence of arrested Excise department officer Partha Hazarika and recovered a staggering amount of over Rs 47 lakh, Rs 47,30,500 to be exact.

Officials who carried out the raid were shocked after finding the cash, stacked in bundles of mostly five hundred rupee notes, along with a few hundred and two-hundred rupee wads, and hidden inside the tainted officer’s residence.

Vigilance & Anti-Corruption sleuths had arrested Partha Hazarika, Excise Department section officer, from Janata Bhawan yesterday (Oct 16) after he was caught red-handed accepting Rs 24,500 as bribe from a person to issue him a bar license.

Hazarika, the complainant had alleged, had demanded Rs 1 lakh as bribe to issue him the necessary license and had already taken Rs 45,000 as a first installment. The arrested officer was accepting the Rs 24,500 as the second installment of bribe when he was arrested by Vigilance & Anti-Corruption sleuths near the main gate of Janata Bhawan.