Senior IAS officer in Chhattisgarh Government B L Agrawal was today arrested by the CBI for allegedly trying to buy favours in cases against him probed by the agency.
Agrawal, now Principal Secretary in the state, was arrested by the CBI along with his brother-in-law Anand Agrawal from Raipur and an alleged middleman Bhagwan Singh from here, CBI sources said.
They said that during the searches the CBI has recovered two kilograms of gold and Rs 39 lakh in cash from the alleged middleman.
It is alleged that Agrawal, an IAS officer of 1988 batch, wanted to "settle" CBI probes against him which were registered in 2010 when he was the Health Secretary in the state government.
He has been chargesheeted in one while probe is going on in the other case.
Agrawal allegedly approached Bhagwan Singh, a resident of Noida, who took him to Syed Burhanuddin.
Burhanuddin, who has many aliases, claimed that he was working in Prime Minister's Office and would help him settle the case in his favour.
Burhanuddin aka OP Singh aka OP Sharma demanded Rs 1.5 crore as illegal gratification for his services, the CBI FIR has alleged.
A meeting was held by the trio on February 11, 2017 where Agrawal agreed to pay the amount to get relief in the cases against him, they said.
It is alleged that Agrawal sent Rs 60 lakh in four installments to Bhagwan Singh using hawala channel.
He expressed inability to arrange cash for remaining payment after which Burhanuddin and Singh agreed to accept two kilograms of gold as illegal gratification, the FIR alleged.
Agrawal asked his brother-in-law Anand Agrawal to deliver two kilograms of gold to Singh, it alleged.
The agency has registered a case of criminal conspiracy and under Prevention of Corruption Act against Agrawal, Singh and Burhanuddin.
"After registering the case, CBI carried out searches at the premises of accused persons and Hawala operators at Raipur, Hyderabad and New Delhi and Greater Noida. An amount of Rs 39 lakh(approx.) earlier delivered to private person (r/o Greater Noida) at New Delhi, has also been recovered during searches," CBI Spokesperson R K Gaur said here today.
(Reopens DEL 39)
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh government suspended B L Agrawal following his arrest.
"On receipt of a report of his formal arrest by CBI, Chief Minister Raman Singh placed B L Agrawal under suspension with immediate effect," an official statement said here.
Notably, Agrawalhad been suspended earlier in 2010 after his houses were raided by the Income Tax department. However, it was later revoked.
