Bribery, DA cases hit 25-year high in 2025 as corruption FIRs nearly double in Bihar

Corruption cases in Bihar rose to their highest recorded levels in 2025, with 122 FIRs registered during the year – a development that comes amid intensified crackdown.

According to official data released by the Bihar Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB), corruption cases recorded in 2025 were nearly double the 25-year annual average of 72.68 cases. With a significant portion of these cases pertaining to bribery and disproportionate asset cases, the police are now looking at further intensifying the crackdown as well as fast-tracking prosecution.

This came in a year when Bihar saw election for its 243-member assembly.

According to the Bihar VIB, the seven-year period from 2018 to 2024 saw an average of 50 FIRs annually, with the previous high during this tenure recorded in 2022 with 72 cases. The data show that 2023 saw 36 cases, while 2018 and 2019 had 63 and 68 FIRs registered respectively.

These numbers fell to 37 in 2020, before rising to 58 the following year in 2021.

Bribery cases made up the bulk of the increase in 2025, accounting for 81 percent of all corruption FIRs registered. VIB data show that 101 bribery cases were registered last year — twice the 25-year average of 47 cases and nearly three times the previous seven-year average of 35 cases between 2018 and 2024.

As part of trap operations, 107 accused persons were arrested — including seven women and six non-government employees. The bureau recovered Rs 37.80 lakh in bribe money, with the highest single recovery amounting to Rs 3 lakh.

Convictions also rose sharply, with judgments delivered in 29 corruption cases in 2025, of which 28 verdicts were pronounced by the Vigilance Court in Patna, compared to 18 convictions in 2024. The seven-year annual average for convictions stood at six cases, while the 25-year average was 5.6 cases.

Despite the rise in convictions, the bureau noted that the average time taken for disposal of corruption cases was 13 years, reflecting prolonged pendency of trials.

Director General of the Vigilance Investigation Bureau Jitendra Singh Gangwar told The Indian Express that to expedite convictions in 2026, the anti-corruption unit will create two cells — one to oversee the entire legal process from filing charge sheets to conducting fast-track hearings, and the second to obtain the mandated sanction from government departments to prosecute suspected government employees.

“Additionally, the bureau will also make an advanced technology wing to make the investigations more efficient and to better track the corrupt practices,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, the rise in bribery cases in 2025 was accompanied by a significant increase in asset-based corruption cases. The bureau registered 15 disproportionate assets (DA) cases in 2025 — twice the 25-year annual average of eight cases — involving alleged accumulation of assets worth Rs 12.77 crore.

DA cases accounted for about 12 percent of all corruption cases registered during the year, with the biggest case involving a former executive engineer of the building construction department with alleged disproportionate assets worth Rs 2.17 crore.

Additionally, six cases relating to abuse of official position and authority (AOPA) were also registered in 2025, accounting for 5 percent of total corruption cases. These cases ranged from irregularities in wheat procurement and illegal land registrations at undervalued rates to diversion of beneficiary payments under rural development programmes.

The previous seven-year average for AOPA cases stood at seven annually, with the bureau also claiming to have completed 121 AOPA inquiries during the year — the highest figure recorded in the past five years.

Speaking to The Indian Express, DG Jitendra Singh Gangwar said: “We have sent confiscation proposals to the state government according to provisions of the Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009. These cases involve alleged accumulation of assets disproportionate to declared sources of income (DA), as well as abuse of official position and authority (AOPA). Several of them date back more than a decade and involve officials from Panchayati Raj bodies, judicial services, and those in charge of welfare schemes.”

The report highlights that as of December 30, 2025, property attachment or confiscation proceedings were underway in 232 corruption cases registered over multiple years under the Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009. It also detailed continued action in alleged teacher recruitment irregularities between 2006 and 2015, following directions of the Patna High Court, with 1,711 FIRs registered across Bihar.