CBI files charge sheet against ex-top Chhattisgarh officer

The CBI today filed a charge sheet against suspended Principal Secretary of Chhattisgarh B L Agrawal and three others before a special court here in an alleged bribery case.
The agency filed the final report before special judge Virender Kumar Goyal against the accused Agrawal, his relative Anand Agrawal, alleged middleman Bhagwan Singh and Burhanuddin who had claimed he was working in the Prime Minister's Office.
The court fixed April 24 for the consideration of the charge sheet.
All accused four accused persons are currently in judicial custody.
The agency has alleged that Agrawal, a 1988 batch IAS officer, wanted to "settle" an ongoing CBI probe against him.

According to CBI, the officer was facing investigation in two cases registered in 2010 when he was Health Secretary in the Chhattisgarh government. He has been charge sheeted in one case, while the probe is going on in the other.

The agency has alleged that the officer had allegedly approached Bhagwan Singh, a resident of Noida, who took him to one Syed Burhanuddin to get a graft case "settled".
Burhanuddin, who has many aliases, claimed that he was working in the PMO and would help him settle the case in his favour. Burhanuddin aka OP Singh aka OP Sharma demanded Rs 1.5 crore as illegal gratification for his services, the CBI FIR alleged.

At a meeting held between the trio on February 11, Agrawal agreed to pay the amount to get relief in the cases against him, it alleged, adding that Agrawal sent Rs 60 lakh in four installments to Bhagwan Singh using hawala channel.
He expressed inability to arrange cash for the remaining payment, following which Burhanuddin and Singh agreed to accept two kilogrammes of gold as illegal gratification, the FIR alleged.
The agency has registered a case of criminal conspiracy and under Prevention of Corruption Act against Agrawal, Singh and others.