The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (V&AC) of the Assam govt on Friday (22nd May) recovered cash amounting to ₹1.18 crore along with land-related documents during a second raid at the house of arrested ACS officer Lachit Kumar Das, the assistant director at the land records and survey office. The cash amount later rose to ₹1.66 crore. The action comes after Das’s arrest by the V&AC on 21st May while he was accepting a bribe of ₹45,000 in Guwahati.
Following his arrest, the V&AC sleuths had conducted an overnight search at his residence in Rani Bagan, Beltola Tiniali, which continued till around 1.30 am on 22nd May. The search led to the recovery and seizure of cash worth ₹48,38,150, over half a kilogram of gold, several bank passbooks, and fixed deposit receipts linked to multiple bank accounts reportedly containing over ₹80 lakh. A .32 pistol belonging to Lachit Kumar Das was also recovered from the scene.
While the flat at Queen Garden Apartment is owned by Das, he has given it on rent to his brother-in-law. The cash was kept in steel almirahs at the flat, and the keys to the almirahs were kept by Das. He has two flats on the same building, and owns several pieces of land.
On 22-05-2026, a team of @DIR_VAC_ASSAM again conducted search in another house of Lachit Kumar Das, ACS, ADLR located at Queen’s Garden, Ranibagan, Beltola and recovered cash Rs. 1,18,30,000/- & some land related documents@CMOfficeAssam @DGPAssamPolice@surendrakr_ips pic.twitter.com/FiqTp9rBJ7
— Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption, Assam (@DIR_VAC_ASSAM) May 23, 2026
A case has been registered against Das at the Anti-Corruption Branch Police Station under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The action against Das was taken after a complainant approached the agency and said that he was asked to pay ₹1 lakh for obtaining a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for an inter-religious land transfer case. The amount was reduced to ₹50,000 after negotiations. Acting on the complaint, the agency set up a trap at the Directorate of Land Records office in Rupnagar, Guwahati, to catch Das red-handed. The vigilance officials caught Das accepting the bribe money inside his office.
“A senior ACS officer had allegedly demanded Rs 1 lakh from a person whose land-related matter involved an inter-religious land transfer. Since the officer was responsible for issuing the NOC, he allegedly sought illegal gratification for clearing the file. The complainant expressed an inability to pay the full amount, following which the demand was reduced to Rs 50,000. During the trap operation, the officer was caught red-handed while accepting Rs 45,000,” ADGP (Vigilance & Anti-Corruption) Surendra Kumar told the media.
“If a public servant is found possessing assets disproportionate to known sources of income, it constitutes an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. We are in the process of initiating further legal action in this regard. We have also received information about several properties allegedly linked to family members of the accused officer, and those aspects are being verified,” he added.
