Assam: CBI arrests 2 NHAI officials, three others in 4L bribery case

GUWAHATI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested an accounts officer and a junior accounts officer of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) posted at Guwahati regional office and three employees, including executive director, of a Haryana-based private company in an alleged bribery case of Rs 4 lakh here on Monday.
The accused have been identified as accounts officer Dipak Das, junior accounts officer Manoj Kumar, executive director of the company Sunil Kumar Agarwal and two employees of the firm — Pankaj and Dilip Rajput.
The agency conducted searches at around 15 places, including Guwahati, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Shillong and Patna, in connection with the case. During the searches, CBI recovered Rs 2.33 crore from Agarwal’s residence.
In a statement, CBI said, “The case relates to allegations of extending favours to the said company by public servants for processing and clearance of bills, release of bank guarantees etc. in lieu of illegal gratifications.”
The CBI added that it was alleged that the said company had executed a contract of road widening in Meghalaya in 2018, for which the NHAI was supposed to issue a discharge certificate after completion of four years of mandatory maintenance on March 31. It was alleged that the public servants and others had favoured the said private company, which reportedly paid a bribe to get the certificate.
The CBI laid a trap and caught both the public servants for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 4 lakh from an employee of the said private company on its behalf, who delivered the bribe in connivance with other employees.