NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday said it has apprehended an Assistant Accounts Officer (AAO) of the Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) within the Border Security Force (BSF) in Delhi, while accepting a bribe of Rs. 40,000 from the complainant.
Official sources in the CBI said that the agency registered the case on Friday against the accused AAO, PAO Office, BSF, Delhi and other unknown persons on the basis of a complaint filed by the complainant for clearing the pay & arrears bills.
The accused, Dharmendra Kumar was caught red-handed during a trap laid by the CBI following the complaint from Mahesh Singh, a pharmacist with the 16 Battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) stationed in Dwarka, the officials said.
In his complaint, Mahesh Singh alleged that Kumar Verma demanded a 15–20 percent cut – amounting to nearly Rs 2 lakh - from the arrears due to him, in exchange for clearing the bills, the officials said, adding that the bribe demand was allegedly made via social media on July 16, when Singh reached out to inquire about the delay in processing his arrears.
Refusing to give in to the demand, Singh reported the matter to the CBI, which verified the complaint and laid a trap. On July 18, Verma was arrested while accepting Rs 40,000 as part of the instalment of the bribe he had demanded.
A preliminary verification report prepared by the CBI stated that a prima facie case was established against the accused under Section 61(2) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (criminal conspiracy), along with Section 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018), for seeking undue advantage to influence official duties, the officials said, adding that the investigation in the case continued to verify and identify other individuals, who might be involved in the conspiracy.