Bhagalpur, July 13: The economic offences unit (EOU) found assets worth over Rs 19.2 crore in the possession of Bhagalpur additional district magistrate Jayashree Thakur.

These were unearthed during 18-hour raids at different locations in Bhagalpur, Bounsi in Banka and Godda at Jharkhand.

The raids got over at 10pm on Friday.

The EOU reportedly seized Rs 16 crore from different bank accounts and a women’s cooperative society run by a voluntary organization. They also seized documents and land records from Thakur’s possession, including documents showing she acquired 23 acres in Banka district, invested crores in a flat in Patna and two more in Bhagalpur. The estimated value of the flats is over Rs 2.4 crore. Ornaments worth Rs 48 lakh were seized.

Thakur is a cadre of the 32nd batch of Bihar Administrative Service.

She also owned three luxury vehicles. An EOU official, on condition of anonymity, said they seized 60 passbooks of different banks, including of a women’s cooperative bank run by Srijan Mahila Samity, a Sabour-based voluntary organisation. Most of the accounts are in the name of Thakur, her daughter Rajshree Choudhary and son Rishikesh Choudhary. Her husband, Rajesh Choudhary, a lecturer at Godda College in Godda, became permanent in service in 2008.

A source claimed that Thakur, an influential official, used to enjoy the blessings of a former BJP minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet. She thus managed choice postings.

In the span of her 17-year service period, she was mostly posted at Banka (her home district) and Bhagalpur. She was transferred as ADM Bhagalpur from Banka on July 2, 2013.

A source in Banka disclosed that earlier in 2012, one Dabashis Jha of Bijaynagar at Banka had complained against Thakur (then the land acquisition officer at Banka) to the state vigilance department. Jha, whose plot was acquired for construction of the proposed Deoghar-Sultanganj railway line, alleged Thakur was forcing him, through her clerk, to pay Rs 50,000 to get his Rs 27 lakh compensation against land acquired.

The vigilance department raided Thakur’s office in Banka on April 10, 2012, and caught the clerk-cum-amin, K.P. Mehata, with Rs 3.75 lakh. Thakur, who was on official leave that day, was made a co-accused. The case is still pending in court.

Financial experts here asked if such amounts were parked in banks with bankers’ connivance. The Telegraph tried to contact Bank of Baroda’s Bhagalpur branch but officials refused comment. A senior branch official, on condition of anonymity, said the amount deposited by Thakur could not be disclosed.

Sanjit Kumar, a social worker, wondered if the seized amount matches with Thakur’s assets declaration.

Thakur had said last night that she was being falsely implicated. “There was no money in 25 bank account records recovered from my residence. EOU’s allegations of black money in other bank accounts are totally false,” she said.