PATNA, Oct. 30 -- Escalating its probe into Bihar's sprawling tender-rigging and money-laundering scandal, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday questioned 1997-batch IAS official Santosh Kumar Mall at its Patna zonal headquarters regarding the latter's alleged role in the tender corruption case, which had surfaced in April- May this year. Mall is at present posted as principal secretary, disaster management department. Anand Kishore, a 1996 batch IAS official will appear before the ED on Friday in response to the summons for the same case. Mall, who deposed before federal investigators following a summons and interrogated almost for eights hours, faced a barrage of pointed queries centered on his suspected nexus with tainted contractor Rishu Shree, sources said. Rishu Shree, a contractor, is one of the prime accused in the tender corruption case and was arrested by the SVU in May end this year. ED sleuths focused heavily on a suspicious conversation trail involving consignments of "mangoes"- suspected to be a covert code word -demanding to know why the bureaucrat had sought a delivery from Shree in Delhi and the identity of a Delhi-based youth allegedly sent to him at the contractor's behest, sources said. The questioning turned combative when sleuths confronted Mall over the genesis of his ties with Shree and pressed him on allegations surrounding a certain percentage of commission / cuts taken in lieu for facilitating lucrative government projects. Sources privy to the interrogation disclosed that the senior bureaucrat remained evasive throughout the session, repeatedly deflecting several critical queries regarding the kickbacks and the mysterious Delhi conduit. Thursday's marathon questioning comes on the heels of Wednesday's six-hour grilling of another senior IAS officer, Dharmendra Kumar, as the federal agency aggressively widens its dragnet across the state's administrative hierarchy. The case, rooted in the wider corruption and money-laundering investigation linked to another IAS Sanjiv Hans, centers on allegations that Shree cultivated influential contacts across state departments to extract confidential tender details, twist qualification criteria, and orchestrate awards to favored syndicates. The sudden flurry of action follows sharp observations by the Patna High Court on October 15 during a hearing on Shree's bail petition. The bench bluntly flagged that the contractor appeared to be merely a "small player," asking pointedly whether the agency had moved decisively against the "big beneficiaries" seated at the top. The ED subsequently summoned a string of top bureaucrats, including Anand Kishore, Abhilasha Kumari Sharma, Sunil Yadav, and Yogesh Kumar Sagar, alongside Mall and Kumar. Sagar has sought time to appear next week, while the others were told to depose before October 30. Investigators are scrutinizing financial trails, questionable assets worth Rs.265.73 crore, and lavish overseas trips allegedly funded by Shree-including an Austrian tour linked to Sagar's family and foreign travel worth Rs.19 lakh for Sharma's household. While agency officials maintain that inquiries are underway without final conclusions yet drawn, Mall's day-long grilling signals that the ED is methodically tightening the noose around the state's top corridors of power before the Patna High Court's next scheduled hearing of the case on November 27, 2026....