Officials Accused Of Corruption Asked To Pay Up Rs 45,000 For Kerala Flood Relief

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge in Panchkula has ordered three officials accused in a corruption case to pay Rs 15,000 each for the Kerala flood relief fund, Times Of India has reported. The officials had not turned up for the hearing of the case.

The three officials are former superintendents Anil Kumar, Ajay Singh and former inspector Ravinder Dahiya of central excise and audit department. They were arrested from Murthal for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 3 lakh to minimise taxes on a company on 27 February.

Special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh ordered the three to deposit the money on or before the next date of hearing on 1 October. The accused and their counsels had failed to turn up for cross-examination of witnesses on 25 May 2018. They had asked for recalling the witnesses for cross-examination on Monday (27 August). The special judge agreed to the defence counsel’s demand while asking the officials to contribute to the Kerala flood relief fund.

The CBI had laid a trap to catch the officials upon receiving information about a bribe exchange. The officials had demanded Rs 10 lakh in total. They were caught while accepting the first instalment of the bribe.