City Correspondent
GUWAHATI, Jan 29: The Central Bureau of Investigation today arrested the director of a private company based in Guwahati from New Delhi in a case of alleged payment of bribe of one crore rupees to a relative of the CAO/Construction-II, Northeast Frontier Railways.
The accused, identified as Pawan Baid, was absconding since January 17, 2021. Subsequently, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him by the Special Judge CBI, New Delhi on January 23.
Various places of hiding of the accused situated at Guwahati, Araria (Bihar), Siliguri, New Delhi etc., were searched and he was apprehended from New Delhi today.
The accused was produced today before the designated court at Delhi.
The CBI had earlier arrested a Chief Administrative Officer, Construction-II, North East Frontier Railway (NFR), Maligaon (Assam); a Deputy Chief Engineer, NFR, Agartala; an Assistant Executive Engineer, NFR, Agartala; a director of a private company based at Guwahati and a person (a relative of the CAO, NFR) in the case charging them under relevant sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.
It was alleged that the accused were abusing their official positions for obtaining illegal gratification. It was also alleged that some senior public functionaries of the North East Frontier Railways were involved in corrupt practices with private contractors for various ongoing projects in NFR. The contractors were allegedly being facilitated in awarding of the contracts, processing of subsequent bills, release of payments etc., by the public functionaries in lieu of illegal gratification.
During earlier searches at 26 locations, including in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Assam, Tripura and West Bengal, a total amount of Rs 4.43 crore (approx.) was recovered. Investigation is continuing in the case.