Colonel, three private executives arrested in bribery case

The CBI on Sunday arrested a Colonel and three officials of a private company in an alleged bribery case of Rs 50,000, an agency statement said.

The arrested were identified as Col Shaibal Kumar of Planning & Engineering Branch of Indian Army's Eastern Command, Sharat Nath, the Managing Director of Pune-based Xtech Equipments Private Ltd, Vijay Naidu, its director and Amit Roy, its Kolkata representative.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), it was alleged that the Colonel had demanded a bribe of Rs 1.80 lakh from Nath in connection with the supply of power pack rock splitters, which are used by army's various field formations.

"The Colonel was alleged to have already demanded and accepted a bribe of Rs 50,000 during February 2017 and as part of the second instalment of the bribe, he has now accepted Rs 50,000 from the company," said the CBI statement.

CBI tracked Nath who came from Pune to deliver the bribe and nabbed him after the payment of bribe to the army officer. Kumar was also arrested and the bribe recovered from his residence, said the statement.

A case against all the four has been registered under charges of criminal conspiracy, and criminal breach of trust of Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

CBI also conducted searches on Sunday at several places including the residential and official premises of the accused.

--IANS

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