Patna, Aug. 23: A junior engineer in the state was found worth Rs 2.75 crore.

The special vigilance unit (SVU) has detected unaccounted wealth valued at Rs 2.75 crore belonging to a certain K.P. Singh, an engineer with the Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCO).

Singh was appointed junior engineer on a monthly salary of Rs 1,000 in 1981.

He has been accused of allegedly accumulating huge property through illegal means during 35 years of his service.

Singh's ill-gotten money was unearthed during a search of his bank lockers in Patna on Tuesday.

During the search, members of the raiding team found Rs 1.39 crore cash and jewellery worth Rs 1.34 crore, including two gold biscuits in one of the lockers. The lockers were allotted to his wife Manju Singh, son Abhishek Anand and daughters Ekta Priyadarshini and Nidhi Singh.

A senior official of the SUV said on Tuesday that an authorised valuer, Satish Chandra Varnawal, estimated the value of the seized jewellery.

"We had completed all the legal formalities before breaking open the lockers," he said, adding that such a large amount of jewellery has been seized for the first time in the state.

To the utter surprise of the team, the search of Singh's Rajivnagar residence in Patna early this month had yielded 68 passbooks of different banks besides registered deeds of several plots and flats in Bihar and outside the state.

Singh's wife Manju is a teacher in a government school.

An investigating officer said a case of disproportionate assets was lodged with the SVU police station in Patna against Singh, at present holding the post of project director of Singh, an engineer with the Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation.

Earlier, he had served as in-charge of the district urban development authority (DUDA) in Bhojpur and Buxar districts.

The initial search of Singh's ancestral house at Ekma in Saran and Rajeevnagar in Patna had led to investments worth Rs 23 lakh only.

SVU's inspector-general Ratn Sanjay Katiyar said investigation was underway. Simultaneous raids were conducted at Singh's office and residential premises in Patna and Saran.