The CBI on Saturday arrested an alleged middleman in connection with a bribery case in which an assistant director of the ED is under the scanner, officials said.
The assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), stationed at Shimla, and his brother, a senior manager at the Punjab National Bank in Delhi, had allegedly gone to a location near Chandigarh to receive bribes from a businessman, that has to do with a case. under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said. (HT file)
The officer managed to give a slip to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during a trap operation on Sunday (December 22) and is yet to join the investigation, while his brother has been arrested by the federal agency, the officials added to.
The CBI arrested “middleman” Neeraj on Saturday and produced him before a special court that sent him to the agency’s custody for a day, they said.
The assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), stationed at Shimla, and his brother, a senior manager at the Punjab National Bank in Delhi, had allegedly gone to a location near Chandigarh to receive bribes from a businessman, that has to do with a case. under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said.
The businessman filed a complaint with the CBI alleging extortion, based on which the agency’s Chandigarh unit planned the trap operation in which the complainant was asked to give bribe to ₹55 lakh in cash to the officer, while CBI sleuths kept an eye on things, the officials said.
The plan was for the CBI to nab the suspect after he received the bribe, they said.
The ED official, who is deputizing for the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), was alerted during the operation and is said to have fled, the officials said.
The agency has been trying to locate him for six days. Technical surveillance was even launched to determine his location, but to no avail.
So far the cash is approx ₹Rs 1 crore, including the bribe money, was recovered during searches, the officials said.
The CBI has arrested the officer’s brother Vikas Deep in connection with the case and produced him before the court, they added.
The agency questions him about his alleged involvement in the case.
Sources in the ED said the accused assistant director of the sub-zonal office in Shimla and his supervisory officers – a deputy director and the joint director (based in Chandigarh) – have been transferred to Delhi after the case.