CBI snoops in-house, nabs Mumbai Dy.SP for graft of Rs 5-crore
The modus operandi, involved threatening the suspects under scanner in different cases that he was handling, ostensibly promising to grant them relief, deliberately going slow, or lures of ‘amicable settlement’, etc, in return for the lucre.
Mumbai, Jan. 03 (bigwire) Raising more than eyebrows, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) peeped inwards to detect and nab a senior officer among others for allegedly taking huge bribes of more than Rs 5-crore from the suspects/witnesses, involved in cases he was assigned to investigate.
The officer concerned was identified as the CBI’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Brij Mohan Meena, attached to the sensitive and low-profile Bank Securities & Frauds Branch (BSFB) Mumbai.
Going all out, the CBI has booked Meena plus seven others and raided at least 20 locations in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Jaipur in Rajasthan, as part of the probe.
So far, the CBI sleuths have recovered Rs 55 Lakhs cash, realty investments worth around Rs. 1.78 crore, book entries of other transactions worth Rs. 1.63 crore, plus other incriminating documents, hard and soft copies of evidence, etc., said the CBI.
The central agency accused Meena of hiring the services of certain middle-men/agents who helped route the ill-gotten bribes into various bank accounts and through hawala channels to avoid leaving a money-trail.
The modus operandi, involved threatening the suspects under the scanner in different cases that he was handling, ostensibly promising to grant them relief, deliberately going slow, or lures of ‘amicable settlement’, etc, in return for the lucre, an official source said.
The bribes were accepted either in cash or vide bank transfers to accounts belonging to one Kishan Agarwal, a middleman, who would keep his commission and transfer the rest to Meena through hawala deals, as per the CBI FIR.
Till date, Agarwal had reportedly conducted deals of between Rs. 5-6 crores on Meena’s behalf and transferred them through hawala channels of one operator P. Umesh, based in Mumbai and Jaipur.
Umesh, an angadia (traditional personal couriers), allegedly handed over the bribe amounts to the Dy.SP’s relative, identified as Aishwarya Ram Meena in Jaipur.
Last month (Dec. 2024), on the DySP Meena’s orders, two suspects linked to CBI cases he was handling, handed over Rs 38 Lakhs to Agarwal which was transferred through banks to the accounts of one Saurabh Loharuka of Kolkata, running the Khush IT Network.
Subsequently, Agarwal transferred the same amount routing through different banks, disguising them as ordinary business transactions to avoid detection, with Meena giving further directives for the same.
The CBI has also booked Harish Agarwal (Kishan Agarwal’s dad), Aishwarya Meena and others involved are now under a deep scanner.
“The CBI has registered a case against its own DySP and others, on the allegations of obtaining undue advantage from different individuals, who were within the ambit of the investigations being conducted by him (Meena),” the agency said late on Thursday.
The action was taken in tune with the CBI’s ‘zero tolerance policy’ towards graft or other misdemeanors, said the agency.
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