Syndicate Bank CMD sent to police custody for questioning

A Delhi court Sunday sent Syndicate Bank chairman and managing director Sudhir Kumar Jain, arrested by the CBI for taking bribes, to four days police custody for interrogation.

"The Patiala House court has granted four days police custody of Jain and five other accused for interrogation in the bribery cases after they were produced in the designated court," a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesperson told IANS in New Delhi.

A CBI team flew Jain to the national capital from Bangalore earlier in the day for the bribe probe, a day after arresting him and raiding his official residence in the city's upscale eastern suburb.

Jain was appointed for the Manipal-based state-run bank's top post year ago.

The premier investigation agency charged Jain of taking Rs.50 lakh as bribe for granting credit extension to a firm that had defaulted on loans amounting to "crores of rupees".

The CBI laid a trap and recovered the illegal cash after it was delivered to Jain.

Several asset papers and incriminating documents were found in Jain's residence.

The CBI sleuths also seized Rs.21 lakh in cash, fixed deposit receipts worth Rs.63 lakh and gold ornaments valued at Rs.1.68 crore from Jain's house.

The five other accused, who were also arrested Saturday, are Bhushan Steel Ltd vice-chairman Neeraj Singhal, Prakash Industries chairman Ved Prakash Agarwal, his brother Vipul Agarwal in New Delhi, Madhya Pradesh Congress unit's legal cell head Vineet Godha and his brother Punit Godha in Bhopal.

Five more persons who figure in the two graft cases are Pawan Bansal, Vijay Pahuja, Pursotham Lal Totlani and Pankaj Bansal.

"It is alleged that Jain has been indulging in negotiations for illegal gratification directly and through middlemen for extending undue favours to private firms by granting sanction to various financial proposals," the CBI said in a statement earlier.

The other accused also allegedly entered into criminal conspiracy and obtained illegal gratification meant for Jain and delivered it to the middlemen on behalf of the firms.

"The company later agreed to pay the gratification and the money was transferred to the middlemen who are also relatives of Jain," the statement noted.

Raids were conducted simultaneously at 20 places across Delhi, Bhopal and Mumbai in connection with the bribery cases.