Corporate Affairs Ministry officials among four arrested by CBI in Rs 3 lakh bribery case

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The CBI has arrested four people, including two joint director-ranked officers posted in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and an associate of Alok Industries, in connection with alleged bribery of Rs 3 lakh, officials said on Saturday.

"Searches were conducted in Delhi, Gurugram and Chennai in the premises of the accused which led to the recovery of cash of Rs 59.80 lakh (approximately), several incriminating documents and digital evidences," the CBI said in a statement.

Those arrested were Joint Directors Manjit Singh and Puneet Duggal, Senior Technical Assistant Ruhi Arora, all posted in the offices of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and Alok Industries associate Reshabh Raizada, officials said.

Singh and Arora are posted in the office of the Director General of Corporate Affairs, while Duggal is posted as official liquidator in Chennai.

The agency had booked them on Friday for allegedly indulging in corrupt and illegal activities and, in pursuance of a conspiracy, taking bribe from the private person for showing favour in the files of Alok Industries pertaining to the investigation being made by the ministry for adopting illegal and unethical business activities.

Following the FIR, a trap was laid and the accused were arrested, they said.

Meanwhile, the investigation agency has registered a fresh FIR on Saturday against unidentified officials of a shelter home for girls in Muzaffarpur in Bihar, which hit the headlines in 2018 for large-scale sexual abuse of inmates, in connection with a missing girl who was shown as reunited with parents in 2015 on the basis of forged documents.

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Brajesh Thakur whose NGO ran the shelter home, Balika Gruh, was sentenced to imprisonment till last breath by a special CBI court in 2020.

The CBI during its probe found details of a physically and mentally disabled girl, who was shown on paper to have been reunited with her parents in 2015, remains missing.

"During further investigation of that case, it was revealed that one minor girl...who was physically and mentally disabled and was reportedly restored on November 10 to her father...in compliance of the order dated November 10, 2015 purportedly passed by Child Welfare Committee, Sitamarhi," the FIR alleged.

When the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) dug further it found that the voter ID cards of persons claiming to be the father and his wife were fake.

"It was also found that Nathuni Mukhiya, the identifier of the father and his wife, is a fictitious person and no such person ever functioned as Mukhiya of the said village and it has also established that release order...dated November 10, 2015 was not signed by Mansi Samadar, the then chairperson, and Renu Kumari Singh, the then member, CWC (Child Welfare Committee) Sitamarhi. The said order was found to be fake and forged," the CBI has alleged.

Based on the report, the Bihar government handed over the probe to the CBI in March this year which has now registered the FIR.

Thakur is currently serving life sentence after a Delhi court in February 2020 sentenced him "rigorous imprisonment till the remainder of his life" and imposed a fine of Rs 32.20 lakh on him in the shelter home case.

The sexual abuse of inmates of the shelter home had come to light on May 26, 2018 after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences submitted a report to the Bihar government highlighting it. (Agencies)