Caught by CBIâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088while accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh; more senior officers expected to be involved
The CBI laid a trap after learning that Army officers were giving choice postings for huge illegal gratification. File pic/PTI
The CBI laid a trap after learning that Army officers were giving choice postings for huge illegal gratification. File pic/PTI
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The CBI has arrested a Lieutenant Colonel and a middleman in connection with a transfer racket at the Army headquarters in which officers allegedly paid lakhs of rupees to manipulate their postings.
Lt Col Ranganathan Suvramani Moni, posted in the personnel division of the Army, and middleman Gaurav Kohli were arrested while an alleged bribe of Rs 2 lakh was changing hands for the transfer of a Bengaluru-based officer, CBI sources said yesterday.
The central investigating agency had learnt of the illicit activities of some Army officers and laid a trap to arrest the two men.
The agency busted the racket involving senior Army officers posted at its headquarters here. They were allegedly giving choice postings for "huge illegal gratification" which ran into lakhs for a single transfer, sources said.
The exposé is bound to send ripples in the Army as some more senior officers are suspected to be involved in the case, CBI sources said.
The FIR also names Brigadier SK Grover, deputy director general (personnel), but his name has not been included in the list of the accused.
The case has been registered against Moni, Hyderabad-based Army officer Purshottam, Bengaluru-based barracks and stores officer S Subhas and Kohli.
The bribe was being paid through hawala channels, the CBI FIR alleged.
The agency is also probing how Army officers were ready to pay lakhs of rupees to get a posting of their choice.
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No. of days of CBI custody those arrested have been sent to
How the racket flourished
It is alleged that Lt Col Ranganathan Suvramani Moni entered into a criminal conspiracy with middleman Gaurav Kohli and Purshottam, an Army officer posted in the engineer stores department in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, for influencing the transfer of various officers.
Purshottam allegedly contacted Army officers who were either posted in different field formations or faced imminent transfer and desired postings to their preferred locations. He used to contact Kohli, who was close to senior officers in the personnel division of the Army headquarters in Delhi. Kohli used these contacts to pursue transfers of Army officers in lieu of huge illegal gratification, the CBI's FIR said.
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