A Senior officer of the Enforcement Directorate was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Anti-Corruption Bureau(ACB), for demanding bribe from an NRI who was allegedly involved in a hawala case in Kozhikode on Thursday.
The arrested is B A Naik, Enforcement officer, Directorate of Enforcement, sub-zonal office, Kozhikode. Enforcement Directorate is the agency responsible for preventing hawala activities in the country. According to CBI sources, the officer allegedly obtained Rs 1.5 lakh as bribe from an NRI Navas in September.
“The officer had demanded Rs 2 lakh as bribe to do a favour to the NRI regarding an ongoing investigation by the Enforcement Directorate. Around `10 lakh had been seized from Navas which is suspected to be hawala money,” a CBI official said. But later, Navas produced necessary documents and proved the source of money. But Naik demanded bribe for speedy release of the money.
“The officer was reluctant to release the money and close the case. Instead he told Navas that on payment of `1.5 lakh as advance amount, a favourable report would be made only by which he would get back his money back within a month. “If he could not pay the money it would take 2-3 years to get his name cleared of the legal tangles, Naik had told Navas” a CBI official said.
Navas informed this to the CBI and the Enforcement official was trapped in a secret operation. The arrested officer will be produced before the CBI Special Court in Ernakulam on Friday.
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