The FIR has come as a surprise in the police circles as Senthil has already been charge-sheeted by the state Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB) for overlooking and manipulating the municipal rules, favouring select builders and firms, causing a loss of about Rs eight crore to the state exchequer, during his tenure as the Commissioner of Patna Municipal Corporation between 2009 and 2010.

Thirteen other officials were also booked along with him after a raid was conducted in the last week of Feb 2010. Senthil sneaked out from his office during the raid and disappeared for sometime. He was placed under suspension on June 30, 2011, that is, 16 months after the raid. He recently challenged his suspension in the Patna High Court, but failed to get any relief.

It is said that Enforcement Directorate, a central government economic intelligence agency, took the step after it found that the charge-sheet filed by the state government’s VIB did not mention any property acquired by the accused despite the fact that Vigilance team was sent out to his native state, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for the purpose.

Incidentally, the charge-sheet filed by the VIB in several other cases of bribery and disproportionate assets contain a detail description of ill-gotten wealth.

“There have been strong indications that the accused has acquired immense wealth during a short span of time despite hailing from a non-affluent family. Preliminary inquiries revealed that his relatives amassed big tracks of land in their names. There was also information regarding investment in engineering and medical colleges. Perhaps the ED will consider these aspects,” a source was quoted in the Hindustan Times.

The Vigilance, as well as, ED cases will now run concurrently against Senthil Kumar.