New Delhi, April 6: The CBI today carried out a countrywide crackdown on corruption by raiding senior government officials and registering cases against 85 people.

The raids were carried out in 144 places, including Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bihar, Hyderabad, Karnataka and Ahmedabad, bureau director U.S. Misra said.

Sleuths detected movable and immovable assets, cash, jewellery and other valuables worth Rs 11.16 crore, Misra added. Cases were registered against 30 officials for amassing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income, he said.

In Bengal, the drive covered the offices and houses of officers of government institutions such as Calcutta Telephones and BSNL at 16 places in and around Calcutta. Their names were said to be on the bureau?s list of ?most wanted corrupt officers?.

Among those booked was a subdivisional engineer of BSNL, Calcutta. ?Officers found liquid assets worth Rs 33 lakh from his office and residential premises,? a CBI official in the city said. ?The raids were conducted on the basis of specific allegations. More raids are expected to be carried out shortly.? Also booked were five officials of director or manager rank of a private company for evading customs duty worth over Rs 29 lakh by submitting false documents.

The CBI had cracked down on senior BSNL officials in February, too, for their alleged hand in what was said to be eastern India?s biggest scam worth Rs 400 crore involving telecom cables.

Among other officials booked were Air-India deputy general manager (sports) Praveen R. Barwe, joint commissioner of income-tax (Mumbai) Vivek Batra, deputy commissioner of police (Supreme Court security) A.A. Farooqui, and finance director in urban development ministry Sanjay Kumar Sah.