CBI nabs Coalgate scam sleuth on bribery charge

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested its own Superintendent of Police, who was heading the Coalgate probe team, and an inspector, for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 7 lakh from a businessman outside its headquarters in New Delhi to settle a land dispute. CBI’s internal vigilance apprehended Inspector Rajesh while he was receiving the bribe on behalf of SP Vivek Dutt, who was Chief Investigator in the coal blocks allocation scam case. “We had information about such a dealing and we continiued to maintain surveillance on them. After monitoring them for a while, we  arrested them on Friday for taking the bribe,” CBI Director Ranjit Sinha told PTI. [caption id=“attachment_786095” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The CBI has now to inform the Supreme Court of the development.. AFP[/caption] CBI sources said the bribery case had nothing to do with the ongoing coal blocks allocation scam probe in which Dutt was the Chief Investigator. Nevertheless, Sinha said, the CBI would inform the Supreme Court soon about the developments since the apex court had ruled that no official associated with the probe into the scam would be transferred without informing it. CBI sources said the agency got a tip-off that Dutt, who was posted in its Economic Offences Wing, had allegedly struck a deal to settle a land dispute in return for the bribe. They said that Dutt had allegedly used his influence with Delhi Police officials to withdraw a petition from an ongoing land dispute case, which had benefited the businessman. Vigilance officials got the tip-off that the alleged deal would be consummated on Friday evening and informed the CBI Director about it; he then gave the go-ahead. The agency’s internal vigilance then arrested Rajesh when the money was changing hands. Later, Dutt was also taken into custody. The operation was carried out on a day when senior officials of CBI from across the country had congregated at the agency headquarters for their quarterly zonal meeting. “My aim while taking over as CBI Director was to ensure zero tolerance of corruption”, Sinha said. PTI