Senior GAIL exec arrested, accused of taking bribes in petrochemicals sale

CBI has arrested a senior executive of state-owned GAIL for allegedly taking bribes to offer discounts in the sale of petrochemicals

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested GAIL (India)’s director (marketing) E S Ranganathan in a bribery scandal involving sale of petrochemicals manufactured by GAIL at a discount.
 

A CBI statement said the investigative agency conducted searches at the premises of the accused in Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Panchkula and Karnal, among others.
 

The CBI said that cash of approximately Rs 1.29 crore, gold jewellery and other valuables were recovered during searches from the premises of Ranganathan. He is the sixth person to be arrested in this case.
 

On Saturday, the CBI said it recovered approximately Rs 84 lakh during searches, which included recovery of Rs 75 lakh from a Gurugram-based person.
 

The other five accused individuals in the case are Pawan Gaur (a private person), Rajesh Kumar (director of Rishabh Polychem, Delhi), N Ramakrishnan Nair (a Gurugram resident), Saurabh Gupta (associated with United Polymer Industries, Panchkula), and Aditya Bansal (associated with Bansal Agencies, Karnal).
 

United Polymer Industries and Bansal Agencies have also been named in the CBI’s first information report (FIR).
 

The CBI alleged that Ranganathan was “indulging into corrupt and illegal activities in conspiracy with other accused, who were acting as his middleman, by obtaining a bribe from the private companies buying petrochemical products marketed by GAIL.”
 

CBI said it laid a trap and apprehended a private person and a director of a private company based in Delhi with an alleged bribe amount of Rs 10 lakh, which was collected on behalf of Ranganathan.
 

According to the CBI’s FIR, the GAIL director (marketing) had demanded a bribe of Rs 15 lakh for issuing the discount order in favour of the beneficiary companies.