Calcutta, Nov. 29: The Bengal excise department has suspended an assistant commissioner who has been arrested on the charge of accepting a bribe from a person seeking a liquor licence.

Sandip Roy, the in-charge of the Canning sub-division in South 24-Parganas, was arrested by Bengal police's anti-corruption branch on Saturday. He was caught "red-handed" accepting the bribe in his Rajarhat apartment, police sources said.

Roy had allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 1 lakh to facilitate the issuance of a licence to a person planning to open a liquor shop in Canning. The person had lodged a complaint.

Roy had been produced in the chief metropolitan magistrate's court and remanded in two days' jail custody. He will be produced in the court again tomorrow.

The sources said several complaints had been lodged against Roy, who is said to be close to some people associated with the Bengali film industry.

The police have conducted a four-hour search at Roy's apartment and collected documents relating to his investments and bank accounts.

"It appears Roy's wealth is disproportionate to his stated income. We will go through all the documents to ascertain the volume of Roy's assets and bank deposits," an anti-corruption branch officer said.