CBI arrests colonel for allegedly taking bribe of R50,000

New Delhi: A colonel has been arrested by the CBI for allegedly taking a bribe of `50,000 from a Punebased private company for supply of rock splitting equipment. The probe agency also arrested three officials of the company. Col. Shaibal Kumar, posted in the planning and engineering branch of the Army’s Kolkata-based Eastern Command, was the arrested officer.

Blowing the lead of corruption in defence procurement within the Indian Army, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a serving Colonel and three officials of a Pune-based private company from Kolkata and Pune for their alleged involvement in a bribery deal worth `1.80 lakh. The accused Army officer, Col. Shaibal Kumar, is attached to planning and engineering branch of the force.

He is posted at the Eastern Command headquarters: Fort William in Kolkata. The three other accused are Sharat Nath, managing director, and Vijay Naidu, director of M/s Xtech Equipments Pvt. Ltd and Amit Roy, the Kolkata-based representative of the private firm. The arrest of a senior Army officer attached to the Eastern Command from the city for corruption is rare. It is expected

Eastern Command spokesperson Wing Commander S.S. Birdi declined to give an official statement on the issue

to cause embarrassment to the Army top brass.

Eastern Command spokesperson Wing Commander S.S. Birdi declined to give an official statement on the issue. Sources revealed that Col. Kumar, Mr Naidu and Mr Roy were arrested by the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) from the city on Saturday evening, while Mr Nath was arrested from Pune on Sunday. On Sunday, Col. Kumar, Mr Naidu and Mr Roy were remanded by the court in the CBI custody till June 22.

The CBI is now interrogating them about their bribery deal. Mr Nath was produced at a court in Pune and is now being brought to Kolkata on a transit remand, sources added.