CBI registers another FIR against ED's assistant director over bribery
New Delhi, Dec 30: The CBI has registered one more FIR in connection with alleged bribery scandal involving Enforcement Directorate's assistant director posted in Shimla, who had escaped during a trap operation conducted by the agency there last week, officials said Monday.
The CBI has now registered two FIRs with one pertaining to alleged bribe demand of Rs 85 lakh and another of Rs 80 lakh from the promoters of educational institutes in Himachal Pradesh, they said.
The promoters, who were also the complainant in the case, addressed a press conference in Shimla, alleging that the assistant director used to call them to office, torture them and demanded bribe.
The officer and two of his staff members made us sit in the Shimla ED office for hours during which they would keep demanding money, they alleged.
The CBI has three suspects under scanner in the case with the brother of the accused and a middleman already arrested, while the officer is understood to be on the run and has not joined the investigation so far, they said.
The assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) posted 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 the bribe from an educational institute promoter, who is facing a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said.
The case pertains to post-matriculation scholarship scam in Himachal Pradesh.
The owner of the educational institute had filed a complaint with the CBI about alleged extortion, based on which the Chandigarh unit of the agency planned the trap operation, where the complainant was asked to give a bribe of Rs 55 lakh in cash to the officer, with CBI sleuths keeping an eye, the officials said.
The plan was that the CBI would nab the accused after the bribe was received by him, they said.
The ED officer, who is on deputation from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), got alerted during the operation and allegedly fled, the officials said.
The agency has been trying to locate him for seven days.
So far, cash amounting to around Rs 1 crore, including the bribe money, has been allegedly recovered during searches, the officials said.
Sources in the ED said the accused assistant director of its Shimla sub-zonal office and his supervisory officers -- a deputy director and the joint director (based in Chandigarh) -- have been transferred to Delhi following the case.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
