PATNA, May 29 -- Hours after raids at the house of Bihar's controversial and high-profile contractor Rishu Ranjan Sinha alias Rishu Shree, he was arrested and forwarded to judicial custody by the sleuths of special vigilance unit (SVU) on Thursday. Additional director general of SVU Pankaj Darad confirming his arrest said that Rishu was arrested late on Wednesday and forwarded to Beur Central jail on Thursday evening after interrogation. "During interrogation he confessed to his involvement in managing government tenders in cahoots with senior officials. Investigation revealed that he amassed huge properties through such illegal activities that led to huge loss of revenue to the state government. The nexus between Rishu and Sanjeev Hans (IAS), are under investigation while allegations, in the FIR lodged by the SVU against Rishu, have been found true in preliminary interrogation," he added. The 11-hour search operation on Wednesday reportedly uncovered a significant amount of cash, gold, silver and diamond jewellery worth Rs.2 crore, along with several electronic devices and key financial documents. According to the SVU, the arrest was part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in government tender allocation, which caused losses to the government. An FIR was registered against Rishu Shree, M/s Reliable Infra Service Private Limited, the then WRD Secretary Sanjeev Hans (IAS) and other unknown government officials at the SVU police station on April 30, 2025. The FIR was registered on the basis of the ED's joint director's enclosed reports, which was assessed by the HT. According to the ED report, Rishu Shree is accused of arranging foreign trips for over a dozen IAS officers and their families in lieu of the favour he enjoyed to procure big tenders. ED in its report said that Rishu has paid commission to various officers of Urban and Housing Development, Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCO), besides Building construction department, which requires in depth investigation. According to the FIR, Rishu has amassed huge wealth in the last 7-8 years. The ED had recovered 61 sale deeds worth Rs.58.58 crore (circle rate valued) from his premises. He has made huge investments in real estate in Delhi, NCR and started two petrol pumps in Patna and Hajipur. He has also bought high end vehicles - Porsche Machan, BMW, Discovery Sport 2.0, Toyota Land Cruiser, BMW R Nine T Scrambler, etc., in the last two years, as per the FIR report. The eight-pages FIR registered by SVU DSP Lav Kumar, (a copy of which HT has), said that the ED had received intelligence inputs that Rishu is holding and managing properties in India and abroad on behalf of various senior officials of the Bihar government and also accommodating/concealing their illicit funds generated in cash from corrupt practices through investment in real estate. "Foreign travels and long stay of Rishu in Dubai and other European destinations in 2024-2025 years is highly suspicious and supports the intelligence that he is managing illicit funds of various senior bureaucrats of the state government," reads the FIR. An ED official, who was part of the investigation, said, "It has come to light that Rishu Shree had paid for the foreign travel expenses of the entire family of a 2017 batch IAS officer and 2014 batch IAS officer in lieu of getting government contracts." The ED report also revealed that Rs.9 lakh was spent on gardening on the terrace of a woman IAS officer's house by Shree. He also managed foreign trips for wards of some other IAS officers and facilitated their luxurious stay abroad. Investigation has revealed that Shree maintained close and influential relations with the then principal secretaries of the Urban Development and Housing Department (UDHD). Further investigation has also brought to light that Shree, who had direct access to and influence over officials supervising the implementation of the Namami Gange Project, sponsored both domestic and foreign trips of senior IAS officers. Shree had on May 8, 2025 filed a writ petition before the Patna High Court to quash the FIR registered with the SVU against him and his associates. On April 18, 2026, his counsel sought permission for withdrawal of the instant criminal writ petition with liberty to raise his grievance before appropriate forum, at appropriate stage. Justice Alok Kumar Pandey dismissed this petition as withdrawn. On October 31, 2025 Rishu Shree filed a Criminal Writ Miscellaneous petition in connection with the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) which was dismissed on May 18, 2026....