CBI searches house of former CBEC, Customs officials

The searches came after agency registered a case against four officials of the Customs Department, a Deputy Director of DRI and one Representative of a Kolkata-based private firm in an alleged bribery case for processing import-export-related work of a private firm based in Kolkata, CBI spokesperson said here today.

"It was alleged that some officers of the Customs Department and DRI posted at Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi and others conspired with private persons in the matter of obtaining permission of the competent authority for allowing a firm to transport consignments from Kolkata Port by railway rake to Nepal through Jogbani (Bihar), in lieu of illegal gratification," spokesperson Dharini Mishra said here.

While the spokesperson did not give any further details, sources in the probe agency said that on November 14, 2012 the accused customs officials had allegedly demanded Rs 20 lakh bribe from the company for facilitating duty waiver for transportation of imported goods which included fertilisers, billet etc from Kolkata port to Nepal via Jogbani in Bihar.

They said that of the promised Rs 20 lakh bribe, the company had allegedly paid Rs 15 lakh through Customs Superintendent Nand Kumar Rai, which was distributed to other Customs and DRI officials.

The sources said the searches were conducted at the premises of former CBEC member in Jalandhar, Nand Kishore Rai and Surinder Kumar Bisht, both posted in Kolkata, Customs Appraiser Baljeet Singh posted at Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi, Deputy Director at Directorate of Revenue Intelligence P Vijayakumar in Mumbai, Deputy Commissioner at Director General of Customs and Excise Intelligence P D Ramaprasad in Kolkata.

The former CBEC member has not yet been named in the case registered by the agency but the investigations are still going on about his alleged role in the bribery case.

Premises of a Kolkata-based export and import firm Universal Agency and its representative Rajesh Sarda and another private person Shib Nath Mal were also searched in connection with the case, the CBI claimed.