Maharashtra: Four including two PESO officials arrested by CBI in bribery case in Nagpur

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested four persons in Maharashtra's Nagpur including two officials of the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) in an alleged case of bribery, officials said, reported the PTI.

The CBI also recovered a total of Rs 2.25 crore in cash from their possession, as per the PTI.

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PESO is a nodal government agency for regulating safety of hazardous substances such as explosives, compressed gases and petroleum.

Among those arrested were Priyadarshan Dinkar Deshpande, resident of Nagpur, and Devi Singh Kachhawaha, director of Super Shivshakti Chemical located in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan, as per the First Information Report registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the CBI, according to the news agency.

Besides, two Deputy Chief Controllers of Explosive working with PESO were also arrested, a senior official of the agency said.

As per the FIR, Deshpande, working as an intermediary, conspired to get work for Kachhawaha's firm by paying bribes to PESO officials. The firm wanted to utilize its electronic detonator manufacturing capacity up to 75 per cent by March 2024, and the accused allegedly facilitated amendments to the company's existing license to facilitate this, the PTI reported.

The CBI on Wednesday evening caught Deshpande and Kachhawaha at a typing shop near the PESO office on Seminary Hills in Nagpur while allegedly accepting Rs 10 lakh in cash.

Subsequently, the agency allegedly recovered Rs 1.25 crore from Deshpande's residence and another Rs 90 lakh from the office of one of the accused PESO officials.

The accused would be presented before a court on Thursday evening.

A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered and further probe was on under the guidance of CBI deputy inspector general Salim Khan, officials said, the news agency reported.

Meanwhile, in an another incident, three officials of Bhiwandi Nijampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) in Thane district of Maharashtra were nabbed on Wednesday after one of them accepted a bribe of Rs 1.50 lakh allegedly to settle a property tax-related matter, an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) official said.
The trio includes a clerk in the tax department, a tax assessment officer, and a clerk officiating as office superintendent, he said, the PTI reported on Thursday.

The ACB said the trio had initially demanded Rs 2.05 lakh bribe from the complainant who had applied for reassessment of property tax after carrying out additional constructions. They later settled to accept a bribe of Rs 1.50 lakh.

(with PTI inputs)