CBI presented all the accused, caught red-handed while accepting Rs 7 lakh bribe on Tuesday, in the Court of Special Judge (CBI) Alok Kumar Saxena, on Wednesday. The accused were sent on 7-day remand for further investigation. These accused will be presented before the court on June 20. On the other hand, accused’s advocate raised objection against such a long remand given to the CBI team. The CBI also conducted raids and recovered Rs 80 lakh cash from the residences of accused officers, including CGST Superintendent, Jabalpur, Kapil Kamble and four inspectors. Out of Rs 80 lakh, Rs 3 lakh was seized from the residence of Superintendent, Kamble, Rs 40 lakh from residence of Inspector Pradeep Hazari, Rs 18 lakh from Vikas Gupta and cash in lakhs from residences of Inspector Ravindra Jain and Somen Goswami.

 

It may be mentioned that on Tuesday, sleuths of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Jabalpur trapped a CGST Jabalpur Superintendent and four inspectors while taking bribe of Rs 7 lakh against the demanded bribe of Rs 1 crore for issuing factory release order at GST Office. According to office of SP, CBI Jabalpur, Bhagirath Rai and Giriraj Vijay lodged a complaint with SP CBI Jabalpur that Kapil Kamble, Superintendent, GST, Jabalpur, had demanded bribe of Rs 1 crore for issuing factory release order of M/s Gopan Tambaku Product Pvt Ltd. Taking prompt action on the complaint, SP CBI constituted a team led by Inspector Umesh Singh to further verify the complaint.

 

Complainant Bhagirath Rai served as Manager, M/s Gopan Tambaku Product Pvt Ltd and Khawasji Bidi Pvt Ltd, Nohata, Damoh. On May 18, 2023, at around 7 pm the factory premises of their firm was raided and sealed by Kapil Kamble, Vikas and Gowswami, and other officers of CGST, Jabalpur. Complainant Bhagirath Rai, on June 3 was asked for bribe of Rs 1 crore by Superintendent, Kamble for issuing the release order of their factory premises.

However, after negotiation the bribe amount was reduced to Rs 35 lakh. On June 5, complainant Bhagirath and Giriraj Vijay handed over cash of Rs 25 lakh to Kapil Kamble as an instalment. On June 10, Kapil Kamble again made a Whatsapp call to Giriraj Vijay asking for remaining amount of Rs 10 lakh, otherwise he would auction the machinery of their factory. On June 12, after negotiation Kapil Kamble reduced the bribe amount to Rs 7 lakh. On Tuesday, the CBI team caught accused officers while accepting Rs 7 lakh from complainant, in their office and recovered the bribe amount.