The economic offences unit sleuths on Thursday searched the offices and the residences of two government officials, including National Employment Programme director Umashankar Ram, and stumbled upon disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 3.4 crore.

Acting on a tip-off, four separate teams of the economic offences unit (EOU) conducted raids on the office and the residences of Ram in Motihari, Muzaffarpur and Patna and seized documents related to purchase of several plots of land. Ram, posted in Motihari as the director of National Employment Programme (NEP), had purchased plots for himself and also in the name of his father Ayodhya Ram and his spouse.

Ram’s under-construction house at Bhagwat Nagar in Patna has been valued at Rs 50 lakh.

Additional director-general (headquarters) Ravinder Kumar said disproportionate assets around Rs 1.55 crore were found during the raids. Documents seized during the search operation suggested that Ram owned movable and immovable properties worth Rs 91.79 lakh and Rs 63.13 lakh, respectively.

The raiding teams also stumbled upon several bank accounts of the officer concerned, assigned to monitor works related to employment in rural areas of the district. The officials were trying to get details of the money deposited in different bank accounts. “The bank lockers allotted to Ram and his relatives would be checked later,” Kumar said.

Sources said Ram had earlier served as block development officer of Chakia, sadar sub-divisional officer (Motihari) and deputy collector of land reforms department before he was promoted and appointed as the director of the NEP in East Champaran district. “He has been working in different capacities in East Champaran district for the past one decade,” an officer in the EOU said.

In another operation, the EOU officials unearthed disproportionate assets worth Rs 1.9 crore belonging to Amar Nath Mahto, the executive engineer of Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Limited. Mahto’s four premises in Patna and Muzaffarpur were searched by four separate teams.

ADG (headquarters) Kumar said the raids at Mahto’s office and the residential premises revealed that he owned land in Muzaffarpur and Hajipur (Vaishali), and two flats in Patna. Mahto has been accused of accumulating movable and immovable assets worth Rs 86.29 lakh and Rs 1.04 crore, respectively.

Kumar said Rs 46.3 lakh was recovered from his houses. The executive engineer also owns a three-storeyed building at Mithanpura in Muzaffarpur town, he said.

Till date, the EOU has initiated action against 18 public servants under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. “The operation has so far yielded in seizure of disproportionate assets worth around Rs 100 crore,” a senior EOU official said.