Revenue Intelligence official in Ludhiana held for bribery

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 1

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today arrested Chander Shekhar, Additional Director General, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), currently posted in Ludhiana, and two more persons in connection with an alleged Rs 3-crore bribery case.

In a statement, the CBI said in June 2019, following a complaint, the DRI conducted a search at a private clearing agency that provided services to exporters and seized documents pertaining to an exporter.

“The complainant, a Delhi resident, alleged that Anup Joshi, Clearing House Agent, and Rajesh Dhanda, a friend of Chander Shekhar, demanded a sum of Rs 3 crore on behalf of the public servant for ensuring that he would not be implicated by the DRI pertaining to recovery of his documents.

“The CBI caught both private persons while demanding and accepting Rs 25 lakh from the complainant. During investigation, the public servant was also arrested,” the statement read.

The CBI said that during questioning, the middlemen told the investigators that the bribe was allegedly taken on behalf of the officer following which searches were conducted at the residence/office of the accused at Delhi, Noida and Ludhiana. “The arrested accused will be produced in a court. Further investigation is on,” the agency said.

A report from Ludhiana said the officer’s friend, Dhanda, who has a hosiery unit, would organise a grand ‘Rath Yatra’ in the city every year, on which crores of rupees were spent.

The DRI office in Ludhiana wore a deserted look after the arrest of the Additional Director General with officials refusing to talk to the media. The office gates were closed at 4.40 pm.