Patna, Nov. 23: A senior police officer posted with the anti-corruption wing of the Bihar police has been arrested on graft charge.

The officer in question, Chandra Prakash Paswan, was arrested today and produced before the special vigilance court headed by M.K. Kaushik, who remanded him in judicial custody at the Beur Central Jail till December 3.

Paswan, posted as deputy superintendent of police with the vigilance investigation bureau, has been charged with illegal withdrawal of money from the bank accounts of a public servant arrested earlier from Hajipur.

The action against the DSP follows the arrest of a constable, Prakash Kujur, and a computer operator, Premjit Kumar Sinha, both posted with the bureau, on October 2, 2011. The duo had blamed Paswan for the illegal withdrawals.

Additional director-general of police (vigilance) Pramod Kumar Thakur confirmed the arrest of Paswan, but refused to divulge details.

Sources said Paswan was arrested from his residence here by a vigilance team led by Parvez Akhter. A warrant of arrest was issued against Paswan, a non-FIR accused in the case lodged under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The probe against Paswan began on the directive of the special vigilance court, which received a complaint from Manoj Kumar, a former district manager of the state food corporation posted at Hajipur in Vaishali. Manoj was arrested on August 11 from Hajipur for allegedly taking a bribe.

According to the complaint, money to the tune of Rs 5.1 lakh was withdrawn from different bank accounts of Manoj when he was lodged in the Shaheed Khudiram Bose Central Jail. Altogether seven ATM cards issued by State Bank of India and Bank of India were seized from Manoj at the time of his arrest.

Manoj, in his complaint sent through the Muzaffarpur jail, alleged that the members of the trap team had pressured him to disclose the secret PIN numbers of the ATM cards. “They (bureau officials) also took my signature on plain papers,” he alleged.

Manoj claimed that the money deposited in the savings bank accounts amounting to Rs 15.17 lakh belonged to his father, who retired from service way back in 2005. “The money was part of the retirement benefits that my father received,” he said.

During interrogation, Premjit revealed that Paswan had given him four ATM cards. “I withdrew Rs 40,000 each from the ATMs installed at SBI’s Gandhi Maidan branch and then Rs 80,000 with the help of two ATMs on August 12, 2011,” an investigating officer quoted Premjit Sinha as saying.

Kujur told the interrogators that money was withdrawn by him from Gandhi Maidan SBI’s ATMs on August 11, August 18, August 22 and August 23. A total Rs 2.4 lakh was withdrawn by him.