CBI books GAIL director in bribery case; 5 held

New Delhi, January 15

The CBI has booked ES Ranganathan, director (marketing), GAIL, and arrested five persons, including alleged middlemen and businessmen, in a case of bribery of over Rs 50 lakh from private companies buying petro chemical products marketed by the Maharatna PSU, officials said on Saturday.

Following the registration of the case on Friday, the CBI conducted searches at about eight locations in Delhi-NCR, including the office of Ranganathan at Bhikaji Kama Place in Delhi and his residence in Sector 62, Noida.

The CBI has so far recovered Rs 1.3 crore in cash from Ranganathan’s premises. Besides Ranganathan, the agency has also booked middlemen Pawan Gaur and Rajesh Kumar, N Ramakrishnan Nair who had allegedly collected bribes, businessmen Saurabh Gupta and his Panchkula -based company United Polymer Industries and Aditya Bansal and his company Karnal-based Bansal Agency, they said.

It is alleged that Ranganathan was “indulging into corrupt and illegal activities in criminal conspiracy” with Gaur and Kumar, who is also director of Rishab Polychem Pvt. Ltd based at Bahudargarh Road, Delhi.