Patna: The CBI on Friday raided the residence of IAS officer Kanwal Tanuj after registering a corruption case against him in connection with alleged irregularities committed while acquiring land for a power plant in Aurangabad, where he is posted as district magistrate.

The plant is being built in Nabinagar, some 140km south of Patna, by Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Ltd (BRBCL), a subsidiary of NTPC.

According to CBI sources, the DM, in connivance with C. Shiv Kumar, CEO BRBCL, is alleged to have withdrawn more than Rs 2.07 crore from a fake beneficiary's account in lieu of land given to thew BRBCL for construction of the power plant.

As per the CBI case which was registered on Tuesday, about 7 acres of land was illegally acquired from one Gopal Prasad Singh, who is dead but was shown as the landowner. The Rs 2.07 crore compensation for acquisition of land paid by the BRBCL in May last year was transferred to Singh's account and he subsequently withdrew it.

Tanuj and Shiv Kumar have been booked for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, use of forged documents and criminal misconduct by public servants. The eight-page CBI FIR, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, says that in March last year, the Nabinagar circle officer had, as directed by Tanuj, informed the BRBCL that 6.545 acres had been earmarked/acquired for the project. The circle officer directed the BRBCL to purchase the land from the owner Singh and added that another .905 acres of government land was being transferred to the BRBCL for the NTPC plant.

The FIR also mentions that when BRBCL officers visited the site on April 11-12 last year for possession of the land, the "claimant Gopal Prasad Singh" allegedly could not identify his own land.

The FIR says that in spite of this, DM Tanuj directed the BRBCL to make payment of compensation for the land to Singh within 48 hours. C. Shiv Kumar, CEO BRBCL Nabinagar, made the payment of Rs 2,07,84,583 to Singh.