Bribery case: IAS and RAS officers remanded to police custody

IAS officer Neeraj K Pawan and RAS officer Anil Kumar Agrawal, who were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Rajasthan in connection with a bribery case involving Rs 1.5 crore, were today remanded to police custody till June 4.
The accused, who were arrested yesterday, were produced in a special court of Anti-Corruption Bureau where the magistrate remanded both of them to police custody, IG ACB V K Singh said.
He said the other three accused Ajeet Soni, Deepa Gupta and Joji Varghese, who were arrested on May 18, are already under remand and will be produced before the court by ACB tomorrow.

The ACB had on May 18 busted an alleged nexus between senior officers, including Pawan, and a middleman in the office of National Health Mission of Medical and Health Department.
An FIR was registered on May 17 by the complainant and raids were conducted at 18 premises on May 18.
The complainant, whose identity has not been disclosed, had allegedly given over Rs 1.5 crore as bribe to the main accused, Ajeet Soni, in the last few months to get work orders worth Rs 7 crore.

Soni used to allegedly collect bribes in form of consultancy fees from firms in return of getting them tenders from the department in collaboration with the officers.

He allegedly distributed the bribe among the officers, including former Additional Mission Director, National Health Mission Neeraj K Pawan, Additional Director IEC Anil Kumar Agrawal, Chief Accounts OfficerDeepa Gupta and store keeper Joji Varghese.
Soni, Gupta and Varghese were arrested on May 18 whereas Pawan and Agrawal were questioned for few days before their arrest yesterday.
"Soni used to influence the tender process in connivance with the officers. He became consultant to firms which work for the NHM and helped in getting tenders allotted to them in lieu of hefty amount.Since the tenders were awarded by him, Pawan was a strong suspect," Singh said.

Pawan, a 2003 batch IAS officer, was last posted as Commissioner in the Agriculture Department and he along with Agrawal were placed under Awaiting Posting Orders (APO) status on May 19 after the ACB's action.