In what could open a can of worms for the suspended Minor Irrigation Commissioner S S Verma, the sleuths of the Special Vigilance Unit have stumbled upon nine kg of gold, one kg silver and Rs 2.58 lakh in cash from the two bank lockers of the official. This includes a one-kg gold bar and 800 guineas stacked in one of the lockers of Allahabad Bank in Patna.

The vigilance sleuths, during the raid conducted on his residence early this month, had recovered Rs 16.50 lakh and 500 US dollars in cash, jewellry worth Rs 4 lakh and papers related to investments of Rs 20 lakh. Together, the total value of recovery made from Verma is around Rs 1.25 crore, far more than the Rs 68 lakh-disproportionate assets (DA) case lodged against the bureaucrat.

The DA case was lodged against Verma, a 1981 batch IAS officer, on July 2 and his premises were raided on July 6. But since Verma had gone into hiding, his bank lockers could not be opened. Eventually, it was done when Verma appeared before the vigilance team on Thursday.

“The assessment of the seized cash and valuables is still on. The final value could be more,” said Vigilance IG A K Upadhya.

Verma, who was suspended on July 13, is also an accused in the Rs 400-crore land scam in Jharkhand (then in undivided Bihar), where he was posted as Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi, and later as its Commissioner.