MP EOW arrests 2 aides of BJP MLA for e-tender irregularities

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Madhya Pradesh government arrested two aides of former minister and senior BJP MLA Narottam Mishra in connection with an alleged e-tendering scam during BJP rule, an official said on Saturday.

While the arrests were made on Friday evening, searches at the premises of the accused continued on Saturday morning, an official said.

Mishra, however, dared the Kamal Nath government to furnish proof and alleged "small fish" were being caught.

EOW Director General K N Tiwari said Virendra Pandey and Neelesh Awasthi were arrested on Friday evening in connection with irregularities in e-tendering process.

Pandey and Awasthi are former personal secretaries of Mishra, and had been questioned several times by the EOW after an FIR was registered in April this year.

"We also conducted searches at their residences on Saturday and seized some documents," the DG said.

Another EOW officer said Pandey and Awasthi complained of uneasiness after the arrest and have been hospitalised.

Speaking on the issue, Mishra said, "When the matter of tampering in the e-tendering process came to the fore, we had ordered an investigation. On the contrary, the present government has given contracts to agencies against whom our government had ordered a probe for irregularities."