The CBI on Tuesday held 5 customs officers and a private person in a Rs50 lakh bribery case. “Some part (of goods misappropriated) has been recovered but a major portion hasn’t,” said the CBI. The goods include cosmetics. Over 40 of the officers’ colleagues and “batchmates” came to court to show solidarity.
The CBI on April 25 registered a case of criminal conspiracy and misconduct. The complaint was by a businessman Amjad Mohd Bakali, countersigned by Irfan Popatia, against the officials and against Akshat Rathod, customs officer and Datta Sonawane, another private citizen.
The allegations were the officers along with private persons demanded Rs50 lakh from Bakali to clear his consignment, illegally kept on hold, and ensure clearance for his other consignments. The FIR alleged a private person had assured Bakali’s partner he would “manage officers”.
The CBI laid a trap and caught two deputy commissioners and customs house agent Nilesh red-handed accepting Rs5 lakh as the bribe’s first instalment. On the instruction of Mukesh Meena, Nilesh handed over Rs2 lakh to the security guard at the gate of customs colony, Powai. Deputy commissioner Sandeep Singh was also present. The investigating officer, CBI’s R S Gossain, told the court the complaint alleged that Meena, Manish and Sonawane demanded Rs25 lakh on April 19 for not holding the consignment. The amount was initially reduced to Rs 21 lakh but later raised to Rs 50 lakh, he said.
“Initial probe has revealed that arrested accused amassed huge assets from similar conspiracies previously,” said the remand plea
No comments:
Post a Comment