Patna, Oct. 2: A vicious cycle of corruption in the state vigilance bureau came to the fore on Gandhi Jayanti when two of its officials were caught for allegedly withdrawing money from bank accounts of a government official, who was earlier arrested for accepting bribe.

Prakash Kujoor, a vigilance constable, and Premjit Kumar Sinha, a computer operator, were arrested today and sent to jail. The duo, posted in the vigilance bureau’s head office in the capital, were accused of withdrawing Rs 5.1 lakh from seven bank accounts of Manoj Kumar through ATMs. Manoj was the district manager of the State Food Corporation’s Vaishali branch.

On August 2, vigilance officials arrested Manoj for taking bribe from Ramjanam Singh, a Hajipur resident. They had found Rs 1.5 lakh on him. The officials also arrested a State Food Corporation clerk, Ramanuj Prasad, along with Manoj who is at present in Muzaffarpur jail.

When Manoj was produced before a vigilance court on August 13, he told the court that a huge amount of money was withdrawn from his bank accounts through ATMs. He alleged that the amount was taken away by some members of the vigilance investigation bureau team led by deputy superintendent of police C.P. Paswan.

On September 8, the court directed the bureau to probe into the allegations levelled by Manoj. The bureau started an internal inquiry, headed by superintendent of police (vigilance) Sudhir Kumar, on September 23.

On the basis of the investigation, a case was instituted against Kujoor and Sinha under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act yesterday. “Both the constable and the computer operator were arrested,” additional director-general (vigilance) Pramod Kumar Thakur said today.

Sources said Manoj’s relatives came to know about the disappearance of money from the bank accounts following text alerts on his mobile phone concerning withdrawal of cash from various ATMs. Thakur said two ATM cards and Rs 50,000 were found from Kujoor’s house in Purnea. “We are trying to find out how the two accused got Manoj’s debit cards and their passwords,” he added.

Kujoor has been suspended and Sinha terminated. The computer operator was on deputation at the bureau office from Bihar State Electronic Development Corporation Ltd (Beltron). “We have told Beltron about Sinha’s arrest and termination,” Thakur said. He added that this was for the first time that any official of the vigilance bureau was arrested.