M A I N   N E W S

B. P. Verma suspended

New Delhi, April 4
Former Chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs B. P. Verma was today suspended from government service, two days after the CBI arrested him on charges of corruption.

As per the government rules, any employee who is arrested is deemed to be suspended after 48 hours, if not released within two days.

The Finance Ministry today received a formal intimation of Verma’s arrest from the CBI and orders for his suspension were being sent out immediately, official sources said adding the suspension was automatic once an employee was under arrest for 48 hours. PTI

1 more held in Verma case
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 4
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested another person in connection with the graft case, in which former Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) B. P. Verma is the prime accused.

Rajeev Kumar, Manager of the Group of Companies owned by Siddarth Verma, son of the suspended CBEC Chairman, was arrested by Anti-Corruption Branch sleuths after intense quizzing by the officials late last night, CBI sources said today.

Kumar has been accused of entering into a criminal conspiracy and acting as a “conduit” for collecting money on behalf of Verma, who has been charged with favouring a Chennai-based firm in evading customs duty and on drawing duty draw back by taking bribe.

With the arrest of Rajeev Kumar, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to six which include Verma, his son, Bhavana Pandey, an alleged conduit of Verma, Sharavanan, partner of A K Enterprises and K. Vijay Pratap, an alleged middleman who paid bribe in crores of rupees on behalf of the firm to Siddarth in the Capital on March 23.

Rajeev Kumar was the second person from the group to be summoned for questioning by the agency. Earlier, the business partner of Siddarth, Rohit Jain, was questioned for two consecutive days on Sunday and Monday.

Siddarth and Rohit own five companies, including Jubilee Enterprises and Jubilee Medicare, but the CBI alleges that Siddarth was running some other business in the garb of these companies.

The CBI is still awaiting the clearance of the doctors to interrogate Verma, who has been admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital, sources said.

Verma, who was remanded to CBI custody on Monday by a city court, complained of breathlessness soon after the judgement and was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital. 

40 charred to death in bus mishap

Salem, April 4
In a gruesome accident, 40 persons were charred to death when a state-owned bus in which they were travelling caught fire in an head-on collision with a tanker lorry, which later hit a diesel tanker, at Vaikuntam near Sankagiri in Salem district of Tamil Nadu tonight.

The police said the bus, carrying about 60 passengers, was proceeding to Salem from Erode when the accident occurred. Stating that the toll could go up, the police said so far 20 bodies had been recovered. Top revenue and police officials reached the spot.

The identification of the victims was impossible as their bodies were charred beyond recognition, the police said. UNI, PTI