BHOPAL: The CBI’s Bhopal unit’s anti-corruption department seized Rs 2.7 crore and 8 kilogrammes of gold from the home of a Food Corporation of India (FCI) clerk on Saturday.
The FCI clerk, along with three other supervisors, was detained for allegedly seeking and taking payments from a security firm.
The accused officers had hidden their illegal profits in the home of FCI employee Kishore Meena, according to officials. During the continuous searches, a large vault and a currency counter machine were also discovered in Meena’s home.
Officials from the CBI also stated that they have discovered a diary with information on bribes paid by numerous companies. Raids continued until the completion of this report.
A Gurugram-based security firm filed a complaint with the agency stating that FCI personnel were deducting excessive amounts from their bills due to the lack of bribes.
Capt Kapoor and Sons was given a tender to provide security personnel to FCI beginning in January this year at a monthly rate of Rs 11.30 lakh.
According to CBI agents, FCI’s accounts manager was pressuring the company to pay 10% of each approved bill, or Rs 1.30 lakh per month.
When the company refused, the accounts manager began deducting amounts from bills on a variety of grounds. According to the officers, the latest amount was cut from Rs 11.30 lakh to Rs 6 lakh.
The security company’s boss sought to persuade FCI executives that he was not permitted to pay commissions, but nothing changed.
A senior management from the company’s Gurugram office later addressed the accounts manager and requested that the pending bills be cleared.
After some back-and-forth, the FCI’s accounts manager requested Rs 50000 for each old bill and Rs 70000 for new ones.
The company subsequently contacted CBI and informed them of the situation. Investigators set up a ruse by asking the complainant to approach them.
Both of them said during interrogation that they were collecting money at the request of FCI’s divisional manager. Officers from the CBI instructed them to telephone the divisional manager for further confirmation, using speaker mode on their phones.
“The divisional manager took the phone and requested that the accounts manager pass over the money to the clerk. The money was seized, and all four of them have been arrested,” the CBI officer said, adding that searches are being done at the FCI officers’ homes and offices.
They’ve been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act’s several sections.
