Patna: Police are the most corrupt among the state government agencies, the vigilance investigation bureau has said in its report presented to chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The official records were prepared by the vigilance investigation bureau and presented to Nitish during the review meeting on law and order on Wednesday.

The data suggests that 90 government employees were arrested by the vigilance investigation bureau on charges of accepting bribe in the state during 2017. Of them, 22 were among the police force.

"The police department alone contributes an average 25 per cent to the total arrests on bribe charges in the state. The figure is increasing year after year," said a senior official posted with the vigilance investigation bureau in Patna.

Majority of the cops who fell into the vigilance bureau trap were sub-inspectors of police. The data revealed that 14 sub-inspectors were among the 22 policemen booked on charges of accepting illegal gratification. Authoritative sources said the anti-corruption wing also held three inspectors officiating as station house officers.

Besides, five assistant sub-inspectors were arrested for demanding bribe from people in lieu of favour in investigation of cases against them.

The police are followed by the rural works department when it comes to corruption in the government ranks. Eleven employees were arrested last year. Similarly, 10 employees in the revenue and land reforms department, six employees in the education department, five employees each in the rural development department, rural works department and health department, four employees in the food and consumer protection department and one each in the general administration department, building construction department, forests and environment department, cooperative department, law department and planning and development department, respectively, were held.

A senior official in the bureau said some middlemen were also arrested during the operation last year.

Ravindra Kumar, the director-general of the vigilance investigation bureau, at an official function in February last year had said "although there are 42 departments of the state government, maximum number of corruption cases are reported against the police department". "Of the total arrested, 25 per cent are from the police department," he had said, adding that one of the reasons behind the rampant corruption among the police was lack of updated police diaries at the stations.

In 2016, out of 127 public servants arrested, 33 were policemen.

On Thursday, too, vigilance sleuths arrested inspector of police Ramesh Dutt Pandey from Muzaffarpur when he was taking Rs 10,000 as bribe from complainant Manoj Kumar Sahni in lieu of favour in a case lodged with the Minapur police station in the district.

Pandey, posted as circle inspector at Minapur in Muzaffarpur, would be produced in the special vigilance court on Friday after interrogation. This is the first incident of trap reported in Bihar in 2018.