By IANS,
Patna : Two days after the Bihar government confiscated a palatial house of an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer accused of graft, he is still missing, police said Tuesday.
“Shiv Shankar Verma is missing, fearing action against him or he has chosen to go underground to get rid of embarrassment,” a police official said.
Police said Verma was missing for the last week after sensing confiscation of his house which is likely to be turned into a school.
“He failed to appear despite repeated attempts to call him at the time of seizure of his house Sunday,” district official Suresh Kumar Sharma said.
“The police team first pasted a notice at Verma’s house as the gate was locked from outside but he did not approach the district administration,” Sharma added.
When Verma remained untraced after seven hours of wait, the administration took the help of a mechanic to break open the lock of the main gate of his house.
Verma’s mobile phones were found switched off since Sunday.
He is the first officer to face such an action under the Bihar Special Courts Act, 2010.
Verma, a former minor irrigation secretary, now faces a case of disproportionate assets amounting to Rs.1.44 crore, along with eight other relatives.