BHOPAL: CBI Bhopal unit has arrested four people including a divisional manager of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for allegedly demanding and accepting bribes from a security agency.
A security company named Capt Kapoor and Sons with its headquarters in Gurugram had lodged a complaint that the officers at the FCI were demanding bribes and creating obstacles in clearing the bills of the company.
Kappor and Sons has started providing security guards to FCI from January this year. The contract is worth Rs 11.30 lakh per month. According to CBI officials, FCI account manager was pressurizing the company to shell out 10% (Rs 1.30 lakh) of the bill per month. As the security company didn’t agree to it, the FCI accounts manager started making deductions from the bills on various pretexts. CBI officials say that the latest bill was reduced to almost half ie Rs 6 lakh only.
The company then approached the CBI that laid a trap to catch the ‘corrupt’ officers red-handed. The officials of security agency, after some negotiations, agreed to pay Rs 50,000 to clear the bill. FCI’s accounts manager Arun Shrivastava asked the company manager to come with the amount at Mata Mandir locality in Bhopal.
The accused manager also brought the manager of FCI’s security wing Mohan Parase along to collect the bribe money, said CBI sources. As soon as they collected the money, the CBI officers arrested them.
During interrogation the two accused claimed that they were collecting the money at the behest of FCI’s divisional manager Harsh Unnayana. To confirm their claims, the CBI officers asked the duo to call up the divisional manager. While conversing, they were made to put their mobile phone on speaker mode.
“Divisional manager picked up the phone and asked the accounts manager to hand over the money to clerk Kailash Meena. The money was confiscated and all four of them have been booked,” said the CBI officer, adding that searches are being conducted on the residential and office premises of the FCI officers.
