2 NHAI officials, 3 others held on bribery charges: CBI
Premium- NHAI officers were booked for allegedly favouring a Gurugram-based company in processing and clearance of bills, release of bank guarantees, CBI said
2 National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials and 3 others have been arrested on Monday on bribery charges to the tune of ₹4 lakh in Guwahati. NHAI officers were booked for allegedly favouring a Gurugram-based company in processing and clearance of bills, release of bank guarantees, etc. in lieu of illegal gratifications.
CBI officials said, Accounts Officer Dipak Das and Junior Accounts Officer Manoj Kumar, both posted at the NHAI Regional Office in Guwahati, and Sunil Kumar Agarwal (Executive Director), Pankaj and Dilip Rajput of GR Infraprojects were booked in connection with the case.
"Searches were conducted in around 15 places, including Guwahati, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Shillong and Patna, at the premises of accused which led to recovery of incriminating materials. Cash of ₹2.33 crore (approximately) was recovered from the premises of Executive Director of the said private company," CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.
"It was further alleged that the said company had executed a contract of road widening in Meghalaya in the year 2018 for which discharge certificate was to be issued by NHAI after completion of 04 years of mandatory maintenance on 31.03.2022," Joshi said.
The CBI has alleged that the public servants and others had favoured the company engaged in road construction projects in processing and clearance of final bills and getting bank guarantees of the company lying with the NHAI released as well as discharge certificate issued by the NHAI, for which the bribe amount was allegedly paid to the public servants, he said.
In a trap operation conducted by the CBI after getting input of possible bribe exchange, the CBI arrested the NHAI officers accepting bribe of ₹4 lakh from an employee of the private company, the official alleged.