The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered the biggest bribery case ever in Chandigarh. A senior officer of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) posted in Shimla has been arrested on charges of demanding a bribe of about Rs 2.5 crore from two accused in a black money case. The accused’s brother has also been arrested by the CBI from Chandigarh.
Chandigarh. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Chandigarh has registered the biggest bribery case till date. A senior officer of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) posted in Shimla demanded a bribe of about Rs 2.5 crore from two accused involved in a black money case. Information reveals that the brother of the alleged accused was also involved in this bribery game, who was arrested by CBI in Chandigarh and produced before the judge late at night. The arrested accused was identified as Vikasdeep, who was posted on a high post in a bank in Delhi and the CBI recovered Rs 54 lakh from his car. Information also reveals that the CBI has also recovered Rs 60 lakh during the raid at the house of the accused Vikasdeep was presented by the CBI at the house of the duty magistrate late at night, who was remanded to police remand for two day remand for interrogation and arrest of the other prime accused. Meanwhile, the prime accused ED officer is absconding and the CBI is searching for him. The CBI has also raided the ED’s Shimla office and collected several important documents.
According to information, ED was investigating two persons from Himachal in a money laundering case, when a senior ED official called those accused to his office in Shimla and threatened to arrest them demanding a bribe of Rs 1.5 crore from one accused and Rs 1 crore from the other. However, both of them requested to reduce the bribe amount. The brother of the accused ED officer Vikasdeep was also present at the time of this deal and called them to Chandigarh with the bribe money. Meanwhile, they informed Chandigarh CBI about this, which laid a trap to catch them but Vikasdeep managed to abscond in his Scorpio car with the bribe money when CBI team caught him and during search recovered Rs 54 lakh in the car.
Past scenario reveals that ED has been accused of bribery in the past also. The agency formed to investigate cases related to black money is itself also being accused of bribery, since about six years ago the name of a deputy director of ED’s Chandigarh office had also come up in a bribery case, when the accused officer was demanding bribe in exchange for benefiting the accused of Rs 600 crore Ponzi scam. Apart from this, in August this year the CBI arrested an assistant director of ED in Delhi on charges of taking a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a jeweler in Mumbai.
