Patna, Jan 24 (IANS) The Bihar government has fired a transport department official - who was caught accepting a Rs.50,000 bribe and was found to own property worth Rs.80 lakh - after he was held guilty of corruption, officials said Tuesday.

The order for motor vehicles inspector (MVI) Raghuvansh Kunwar’s dismissal from service was issued after a review of departmental proceedings against him, officials said.

“After he was suspended on corruption charges, departmental proceedings began against him and the department approved his dismissal,” an official in the general administration department said.

Kunwar was allegedly caught while accepting a bribe of Rs.50,000 when he was MVI of Aurangabad district Sep 24, 2008. In the course of investigation, vigilance officials found a huge amount of unaccounted for wealth.

The official said Kunwar’s properties include two plots and a four-storey building at Kankarbagh locality in Patna, a house in Chaira, a jeep, Rs.1.94 lakh in cash and investments worth Rs.8 lakh.

“He owns property worth Rs.80 lakh,” the official said.

A case of disproportionate assets was subsequently lodged against him in 2009. In 2010, a special court ordered confiscation of his property - it was the first such order in Bihar and came after four months of a speedy trial.

Till date, the Bihar government has confiscated the houses of an IAS officer, Shiv Shankar Verma, and a treasury clerk, Girish Kumar, in Patna. Kunwar’s property is yet to be confiscated as his petition is still pending in the Patna High Court.

Proceedings have also been initiated to confiscate the properties of some more officials, including former state drug controller Y.K. Jaiswal, revenue officer Yogendera Prasad Singh, engineer Srikant Prasad, former director general of police Narayan Mishra and former Rajbhasha Parishad director B.N. Chowdhary.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar gave his nod for prosecution of 11 officials of various departments Nov 11. Nitish Kumar had declared a war against corruption after becoming chief minister for the second consecutive term in November 2010.

Six special courts — two each in Patna, Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur — were constituted by the state government with the permission of the Patna High Court for speedy trial of cases involving corrupt officials.