CBI books own officers, Finance Ministry official for seeking bribe

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a corruption case against two of its own officers and an official from the Ministry of Finance for allegedly demanding bribes to settle an ongoing investigation.

The case surfaced after a Rajasthan-based complainant approached the CBI, accusing its personnel — an inspector and a senior law officer — of demanding a bribe of Rs 35 lakh in exchange for favourable action in a case being probed by the agency itself.

Additionally, a Department of Revenue official from the Finance Ministry allegedly sought Rs 50,000 to “influence Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials” in connection with the same matter.

Following the complaint, the federal agency directed one of its officers to “discreetly verify” the contents of the complaint.

The officer then submitted a “Verification Report” on April 9, confirming the allegations, following which a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered by the agency.

As per the FIR, accessed by The Tribune, the complainant was first approached by a person for settlement of his cases by introducing himself as a CBI officer.

“The alleged person further introduced the complainant to a law officer of the CBI, who offered to help him in his cases and demanded Rs 50 lakh from him. However, the amount was later reduced to Rs 35 lakh. The law officer also introduced the complainant to a CBI Inspector who also demanded Rs 10 lakh,” an excerpt from the FIR read.

Refusing to succumb to the pressure, the victim. in his complaint, stated that he did not want to pay the bribe to any person and requested to take appropriate legal action in the matter.

As the CBI officer began discreetly investigating the matter, it was found that a Ministry of Finance official had also sought a bribe of Rs 50,000 from the complainant, promising him to influence ED officers in the related case.