CBI on his trail in corruption case, ED officer posted in Shimla at large

Three officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), including one who is still at large, had to face the heat of senior officials in Delhi and were subsequently transferred back to the national capital after one of them was found involved in a case of extortion from a Chandigarh-based businessman.

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According to official sources, the absconding officer was posted in Shimla on the post of Assistant Director and was made the investigating officer in the businessman’s case a couple of months ago but he allegedly started demanding bribe to settle the case.

The businessman had filed a complaint with the CBI about the alleged extortion bid by an ED officer in Shimla, following which the agency’s Chandigarh unit planned a trap where the complainant was asked to give a bribe of Rs 55 lakh in cash to the officer while CBI sleuths kept tabs on him.

As per the sources, it was planned that the CBI would nab the officer after he accepted the bribe but he got the wind of the CBI’s covert operation and fled. The CBI sleuths have in the past six days conducted searches and raids yet the ED officer, who is on deputation from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), is still at large.

The incident infuriated senior ED officers in Delhi, who transferred the accused Assistant Director and his supervisory officers — a Deputy Director and a Joint Director (based in Chandigarh) — back to the national capital.

Meanwhile, the CBI during multiple raids on the premises of the accused officer so far recovered more than Rs 1 crore, including the bribe amount. As the CBI sensed the involvement of the brother of the accused ED officer in the crime, he, too, was placed under arrest and later produced before a local court. “His questioning is underway,” the sources said.

Transferred to Delhi

• The absconding officer was posted in Shimla on the post of Assistant Director and was made the investigating officer in the businessman’s case a couple of months ago but he allegedly started demanding bribe to settle the case
• On deputation from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, he has been transferred back to Delhi along with two others