The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reached a breakthrough in the alleged corruption conspiracy in the recruitment of officers for the Indian Army. The country’s premier investigating agency has booked six lieutenant colonel-ranked officials in relation to this scam, who used to conduct this racket through the Service Selection Board (SSB) centres.

Lt Col Bhagwan from the Army Air Defence Corps is believed to have masterminded this whole fraud and he is one of the six aforementioned officers under the CBI’s radar. Overall, the agency has filed cases against 17 army officials of various ranks along with six private individuals.

The case is overall related to bribery and irregularities in recruitment of officers and that of other ranks via the SSB. On Monday, search operations were conducted in 30 locations across the country including in Vishakhapatnam, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Jorhat, some army establishments amongst other places.

Apparently, Brigadier (Vigilance) V K Purohit filed a complaint to the CBI and alleged that an input was received on 28^th February regarding serving personnel accepting bribes for clearing medical examination reviews of temporarily rejected officers at the Base Hospital in New Delhi.

Brigadier Purohit claimed that Lt Col Bhagwan and Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh also took gratification from prospective officer candidates at SSB centres, Mint reports.

Officials quoted by the publication mentioned that CBI has booked 23 Army personnel and civilians along with relatives of officers for pursuing bribes and enabling this entire network. Further details on the agency’s probe are awaited as of now.