The anti-corruption branch on Tuesday searched the house of Arunava Lahiri, the last chairman of the erstwhile Bally Municipality, in connection with the Rs 20.07 crore of unaccounted money that had allegedly been seized from the home of an official of the civic body.

The home of the in-laws of Lahiri, a CPM leader in Howrah, was also searched.

Earlier in the day, Lahiri had turned up at the anti-corruption branch's office on Strand Road in compliance with an order from officers and submitted his bank account details and a declaration of his other assets.

A team from the agency accompanied him to his flat on GT Road in Bally around 4.45pm. Another team reached the in-laws' house, around 200 yards from his flat.

The chief metropolitan magistrate's court had granted permission to the agency following a petition to raid the houses of Lahiri and his in-laws. "We have found some documents related to Lahiri's property. We will examine them thoroughly," an officer of the branch said.

When asked about the raid, Lahiri said: "I will not say what the police have seized from my flat. I am happy the agency searched my flat and my in-laws' house simultaneously."

The agency had during a raid on August 14 allegedly seized Rs 20.07crore from the Howrah house of Pranab Adhikary, who as sub-assistant engineer of Bally Municipality was in charge of sanctioning buildings plans in Liluah. The municipality has since merged with the Howrah Municipal Corporation.

The sleuths said Adhikary had extorted the money from promoters in exchange of sanctioning their building plans. The agency is probing whether Adhikary had acted in collusion with other officials of the municipality and the politicians who ran it.

Bally Municipality had been under the Left Front rule since 1980 till its merger with the Howrah civic body. Lahiri was its chairman for the last five years.

"As head of the civic body Lahiri was quite influential. We are trying to ascertain whether he was linked to Adhikary's unaccounted money," said an officer of the agency.

Agency sources said more people were under the scanner. "We are probing the role of the people who has wielded clout in the municipality. Our investigation has revealed that Adhikary had started taking money at least 25 years ago," another officer of the agency said.