Caterer accused of influencing CBI officers ran agency canteen in past

NEWDELHI:THE caterer at the Palika Services Officers Institute (PSOI) who has been accused of trying to influence Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials in a disproportionate assets investigation against an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, ran the anti-corruption agency’s own cafeteria at its headquarters till last year, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Given his easy access to CBI officers at the time, it is now being suspected that the caterer may have been involved in trying to influence some other CBI cases well, said one of the officials cited above.

CBI arrested Rakesh Tiwari, entrusted with providing catering services at the PSOI at Chanakyapuri’s Nehru Park, on charges of asking for ₹35 lakh for influencing the agency’s officials to dilute an investigation against IRS officer Vivek Batra.

CBI documents show that Batra has twice been accused by the agency sleuths, in 2005 and 2017, for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

“The IRCTC was initially contracted by the CBI in June 2011 to run the cafeteria at its then newly constructed headquarters. The contract was for three years and it was not renewed. The catering at the cafeteria was later handed over to Rakesh Tiwari in 2014,” said a second CBI official.

The official said that Tiwari now no longer runs the CBI’S cafeteria following the expiry of his contract in 2017.

When contacted, a CBI spokesperson declined to comment.

The CBI has recovered around ₹3.6 crore in cash, 21 Rolex watches and jewellery worth ₹1.5 crore at different premises owned by Tiwari. The agency has arrested Neeraj Kochhar, chairman and managing director of Viraj Profiles, on the charge of paying Tiwari through hawala transactions.

Kochhar is a co-accused of Vivek Batra in the 2017 CBI case of amassing disproportionate assets. Batra could not be reached for comments .