Patna, Aug. 12: Taking kickbacks in cash appear to be a passé now. For, the vigilance sleuths have stumbled upon a corrupt official who used to take vehicles as bribe.

Manoj Kumar, the district manager of state food corporation (SFC) in Vaishali, thought “out-of-the-box” to evade the prying eyes of sleuths.

Kumar was trapped last night while accepting Rs. 1.5 lakh bribe from a transporter, Rameshwar Prasad Singh. A detailed investigation into his ill-gotten assets revealed that the officer had received a Tata Nano from one of the residents as bribe in lieu of extending favour.

During investigation it came to light that Kumar, a native of Bhojpur district, had a fleet of cars at his disposal.

“He had recently received a Tata Nano as bribe from a Patna resident,” a senior vigilance investigation bureau officer said. During the search at Kumar’s house at Shawazpur under Ahiapur police station in Muzaffarpur, the vigilance sleuths seized a Santro, Tata Nano, Marshal, Tata Victa, Bolero and two Fiat cars. “Some of them are brand new,” a member of the raiding team said.

In addition, the bureau officers stumbled upon Rs 5.16 lakh, 14 passbooks of different banks, a rifle, documents of six plots of land, investments worth Rs 4 lakh in insurance sector. He owns a double-storeyed building in Muzaffarpur.

The raiding team also seized a large amount of jewellery from his house.

“The value of the property of the arrested public servant is yet to be estimated,” said additional director-general of police (vigilance) Pramod Kumar Thakur.

It was not the first time that Kumar has fallen into vigilance net. Earlier, an inquiry was ordered into alleged misuse of his office by Kumar when he was posted as block development officer of Mushahri in Muzaffarpur in 2010.

Kumar had joined service on March 1, 1993. The district magistrate of Nawada had also reported against Kumar for his acts of omission and commission when he was posted as the district manager of the SFC.