Nagpur Outer Ring Road corruption: CBI arrests NHAI GM, DGM in bribery case

The CBI arrested two senior NHAI officials, General Manager Arvind Kale and Deputy General Manager Brijesh Kumar Sahu, and four others on Sunday in a bribery case involving an amount of Rs 20 lakh related to the Outer Ring Road Project in Maharashtra's Nagpur, officials said.

Kale, a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) project director in Nagpur, and Sahu, a project director in Madhya Pradesh's Harda, were arrested by the CBI along with the directors of Bhopal-based Bansal Construction Works Private Limited -- Anil Bansal and Kunal Bansal -- and employees of the firm Chhater Singh Lodhi and C Krishna, the officials said.

"The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out searches at five locations in Bhopal and Nagpur on Sunday, including residential and official premises, and recovered Rs 1.1 crore in cash, including the bribe amount of Rs 20 lakh," a spokesperson of the federal agency said in a statement.

In its FIR in the matter filed recently, the CBI booked 11 people, including four NHAI officials, the company and its directors and employees.

"It was alleged that the directors of a Bhopal-based private company have been delivering bribes to various public servants of the NHAI through their employees in lieu of issuance of completion certificates, processing of bills, smooth progression of awarded works etc. in various road projects awarded by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)," the CBI spokesperson said.

The agency had received inputs that employees of the company deliver bribes to officials in Nagpur and Madhya Pradesh.

It was alleged that Krishna was in regular contact with Kale for clearing pending matters, including processing pending bills and issuance of completion certificates, in lieu of bribes for the Outer Ring Road project, the officials said.

During surveillance, the CBI came to know that an amount of Rs 25 lakh was likely to be delivered to Kale.

"The CBI laid a trap and after the delivery of a bribe of Rs 20 lakh to the said General and Project Manager (Kale) of the NHAI by an employee of the said private company, they were apprehended," the agency spokesperson said.