Two officials in the office of the accountant-general (AG) were arrested today for allegedly accepting a bribe for reconciling Abstract Contingent (AC) bills into Detailed Contingent (DC) ones.

Rajesh Kumar, audit accounts officer, and his subordinate Rajdeo Prasad, were nabbed red-handed by CBI sleuths while accepting a bribe of Rs 2,000 from one Arvind Kumar, sub-planning officer of Banka, in the AG office located near R’ Block in the state capital.

CBI superintendent of police B.K. Singh confirmed the arrests and said the bribe money was recovered from the duo.

“The two officials would be produced in the special CBI court after interrogation,” the CBI superintendent of police said.

Singh added that the two officials had demanded a bribe for reconciliation of AC bills into DC bills.

During preliminary investigation, it came to light that the arrested duo had been demanding Rs 500 each for accepting the bills from state government officials.

Arvind Kumar, in his complaint petition submitted to the CBI office, alleged that the AG officials were demanding Rs 2,000 as bribe for accepting his four bills.

The arrest of the officials assumes significance in the wake of allegations of corruption in the office of the accountant-general.

“The officials are demanding bribe due to increased workload,” said an officer of Vaishali district, who had to oblige the accountant-general staff for timely submission of the bills.

Accountant-general (accounts and entitlement), Bihar, I.D.S. Dhariwal, however, refuted the allegations of corruption and said that at present several teams had been assigned to accept the bills.

“The accountant-general staff are working in coordination with employees of the state finance department to complete the task at the earliest,” he added.

Dhariwal said he was yet to receive any official communication from the CBI regarding the arrests.

“I am not aware whether the arrested public servants are the staff of the accountant-general office or they are officers on deputation,” Dhariwal said.

“If the allegations are true, then it is a serious matter and needs to be looked into on a priority basis,” he added.

AC-DC bills have been a bone of contention between the state government and the accountant-general office for long.

Opposition parties had been demanding a CBI probe into alleged misappropriation of funds due to non-reconciliation of AC-DC bills worth Rs 22,575.37 crore for the period ending March 31, 2011.

The issue was also dragged to the Patna High Court for a CBI investigation.

The high court had, however, rejected the petition filed by one Arvind Kumar Sharma.

The matter is pending in the Supreme Court, which has issued a showcause notice to the Bihar government to explain its position.