The state on Tuesday got a new zonal office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to enable the central government unit pursue money laundering cases better.

Both Bihar and Jharkhand would come under the jurisdiction of the new zonal office.

The zonal office, headed by an assistant director, has been shifted to the Bank Road near Gandhi Maidan.

Earlier, there was a sub-zonal office, which functioned from a multi-storeyed building on the Frazer Road.

The sub-zonal office used to function under the joint director of its Lucknow unit.

Sources said that two enforcement officers (EOs) and four assistant enforcement officers (AEOs) have been posted at the zonal office.

In addition, a sub-zonal office has been opened in Jharkhand’s Ranchi. The sub-zonal office in Ranchi has been attached to the Patna zonal office, sources said.

The decision to upgrade the sub-zonal office in Patna was taken last year in the wake of substantial rise in the number of cases lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, in both Bihar and Jharkhand in the past few years.

At present, the sources said, 12 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, have been lodged by the ED on the recommendation of the Bihar government. The cases were lodged against public servants, liquor mafia and notorious criminals, who amassed huge wealth through illegal means.

Those booked under the act included senior IAS officer K. Senthil Kumar, Gaya-based liquor mafia and brother of RJD MLA Surendra Prasad Yadav, Mantoo Yadav, and notorious gangster Ritlal Yadav.

Besides Kumar, three other government officials — former state drug controller Yogendra Kumar Jaiswal, former Raj Bhasha director Dhruv Narayan Choudhary and former chief engineer of minor irrigation department Awadhesh Prasad Singh — are also in the ED net.

The sources in the state police headquarters said that eight more cases were likely to be handed over to the ED to initiate the process of confiscation of ill-gotten assets.