Jamia professor bribery case: CBI officer accused of seeking Rs 60 lakh bribe; agency orders probe

PTI

New Delhi, April 7

In a new twist to the bribery case involving Jamia Millia Islamia professor Khalid Moin, the CBI has started an inquiry into allegations by an accused that its officer had demanded Rs 60 lakh bribe to let him off the case.

Sachin Sachdeva, the owner of Vyom Architects who was arrested in the case, claimed before a special court that a CBI officer, believed to be posted in the Special Unit of the agency, had demanded Rs 60 lakh bribe for not naming him in the case and had already collected Rs 10 lakh through his conduit.

The CBI on March 16 had arrested Sachdeva’s employees Prabhakar Ashok Panwar and Mohd Abid for allegedly paying Rs 1 lakh to Moin, a professor of Civil Engineering at the university, for getting structural safety certificate for a project in Botanical Gardens, Noida.

The CBI had arrested Sachdeva for not cooperating with the investigation on March 18 and produced him before a special court for seeking his remand for custodial interrogation.

Sachdeva told the court that during the search at his office, the CBI officer from the Special Unit, the branch of the CBI tasked with surveillance, developing intelligence and interception, had claimed that he was the investigating officer of the case.

He said Rs 10 lakh were found in his office but were not seized by the officer and returned to him.

Later, the officer had asked him to pay the amount to a person who would come on a blue scooter, Sachdeva had said.

He said that he had made the payment as directed by the officer and the episode can be seen in the CCTV footage around the area.

The businessman had alleged that the officer made several WhatsApp calls since March 16 asking him to pay Rs 50 lakh to another CBI officer posted in the Anti-Corruption Branch of the agency which was probing the case to not involve him in the case.

He, however, said the ACB officer had not sought any bribe from him directly.

The court had marked a copy of his remand order to senior officers of the agency to take action against the erring official, if any.

Taking note of allegations by the businessman, the Central Bureau of Investigation has deputed an Additional SP-ranked officer, who is undergoing training at the CBI Academy, to carry out any enquiry into the matter, officials said.

The report will be produced before the special court hearing the matter, they said.

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