ICF bribery case: Four more arrested

CHENNI: A day after arresting former principal chief mechanical engineer at the Integral Coach Factory A K Kathpal for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 50 lakh, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday arrested four more people.
The four arrested people have been identified as Hamsa Venugopalan, director of Chennai based Universal Engineers Chennai Pvt Ltd, Om Prakash, Hamsa's working partner, A K Kathpal's brother Sanjay Kathpal and Khetmal Jain of Salem Steel Trading Company.
The CBI seized around Rs 2.75 crore in cash and around 23 kg gold on Monday. On Tuesday, it seized other investments like FDRs worth around Rs. 4.28 crore related to Kathpal and his family members. Property documents and keys of two bank lockers have also been recovered during searches several premises in Chennai and Delhi. The scrutiny of the bank accounts and other documents was in progress, the CBI said.
The CBI case says Kathpal had collected bribe from Hamsa and others between February 2019 and March 31, 2021 (the date of his retirement) in the award/execution of tenders in respect of mechanical division of the ICF. He used the services of Hamsa as a conduit for collecting bribe on his behalf and also as a custodian for keeping the alleged illegal gratification of around Rs 5.89 crore received on his behalf.