Corruption case: NHAI officers sent to CBI custody

Press Trust of India, Wednesday May 26, 2010, New Delhi

A Delhi court has sent two top officers of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), arrested in connection with corruption charges, to CBI custody for five days.

Additional Sessions Judge O P Saini sent the NHAI Chief General Manager S K Nirmal and General Manager Nitin Jain, who were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly favouring a construction company, to CBI custody till May 31 for interrogation.
The Managing Director of Oriental Structure Pvt Ltd K S Bakshi and one of his employees S K Dikshit were also allowed to be quizzed in custody by the CBI.

The probe agency has alleged that the officers entered into a criminal conspiracy with the Managing Director of the private firm and favoured his company in bagging contracts for a project in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.It has also been alleged that the officers of NHAI gave key confidential, strategic and vital information to the company during the process of tender which in turn helped it gain greater financial benefits.
The CBI had carried out extensive searches at eight places in the national capital and Jaipur during which they claimed to have recovered Rs 48 lakh from Jain's house and another Rs 52 lakh from his bank locker besides 100 grams of gold.

It also claimed to have recovered Rs 46 lakh from Nirmal's house besides 360 grams of gold and five kilograms of silver from his locker.

The modus operandi of NHAI officials was allegedly to eliminate all potential contenders on one pretext or the other to favour a particular company and ensure huge financial gains to it.

Raid at Pune engineer's house, Rs 1.68 crore recovered

Mid-Day.com, Thursday May 6, 2010, Pune

A new record was created for the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) when it recovered Rs 1.68 crore in a raid on the home of a Public Works Department (PWD) executive engineer caught accepting a bribe
The engineer in question, Vikram Parshuram Jadhav, was arrested for accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a contractor to release the latter's payment. A senior clerk, Yogesh Tarte, was also arrested in the case.
The Rs 1.68 crore was recovered in the raid on PWD Executive Engineer (North Region) Jadhav's Shivaji Nagar residence Flat No 11, Butte Patil Prestige Building, Revenue Colony. As we laid the trap at his office, another team led by Police Inspector Radhika Phadake raided Jadhav's residence and recovered Rs 1.68 crore in cash, besides gold and silver jewellery," said Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACB, Ajay Kadam. "This is the first time we have recovered so much hard cash in a raid carried out by the Anti-Corruption Bureau."
Kadam said in the previous big raid conducted by the ACB, Rs 57.97 lakh was recovered in cash, besides gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 11.11 lakh, among other valuables. Kadam said that that raid had been on the Balewadi
residence of Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL) superintending engineer Subhash Bansal in January.Jadhav and Tarte were presented before a special court for police custody.
When ACB officials raided Jadhav's residence, three briefcases stacked with Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination currency notes were found hidden in the cupboard in the master bedroom. Two briefcases stuffed with more cash were found in the box of a diwan.Jadhav and Tarte were caught red handed accepting the bribe from Prashant Shantaram Doke, a resident of Ale Phata in Junnar taluka.
Doke had received a contract for roadwork in Narayangaon and Nimgaon Sava. After completion of the work, Jadhav allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 3.35 lakh to clear Doke's dues.
Doke approached ACB and a trap was laid. The ACB said Tarte's role in the offence was accepting Rs 1 lakh from Doke on behalf of Jadhav.