New Delhi: The CBI has searched the premises of an assistant director of the ED in Shimla, who managed to give a slip to the agency during a trap operation on Sunday and escaped, officials said.
The assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) posted at Shimla and his brother Vikas Deep, a senior manager in the Punjab National Bank in Delhi, had allegedly gone to Chandigarh to receive bribe money from a businessman, who is facing a case lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
The businessman filed a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about alleged extortion, based on which the Chandigarh unit of the agency planned the trap operation where the complainant was asked to give a bribe of Rs 55 lakh in cash to the officer with CBI sleuths keeping an eye, the officials said.
The search at the residence led to the recovery of an additional Rs 56.50 lakh. So far, the agency has seized Rs 1.01 crore.”
According to sources, an FIR has been filed at the CBI office in Chandigarh under section 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. “His brother was produced in the court of the Special CBI Judge in Chandigarh, from where he was sent to CBI custody. The investigation is in progress,” the source said.
A senior CBI officer from Shimla said, “A team of CBI personnel from Chandigarh came to Shimla and searched the residence of an ED officer. Later, the team went to the ED office. Certain documents were taken into possession. Throughout this exercise, our team assisted the Chandigarh team. We were told that an FIR was registered by Chandigarh CBI personnel.”
Sources said that when the CBI personnel went to Shimla for the searches, the ED officer could not be found at his house nor his office. A middleman, through whom the ED officer was allegedly demanding bribes, is also absconding, sources said.
