The CBI on Thursday arrested a chartered accountant (CA) and two government officials for selling confidential documents on foreign investment policy to corporates after searches in offices of the Finance and Commerce Ministries here and in Mumbai.
The CBI action came after registering a case of criminal conspiracy, theft under IPC and misuse of official position under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Chartered Accountant Khemchand Gandhi, Under Secretary in Department of Disinvestment and Grievances Ashok Kumar Singh and Section Officer in the Department of Economic Affairs Lala Ram Sharma. After detailed interrogation, the trio were taken into custody on Thursday.
CBI sources said a major coordinated search operation was carried out at eight locations — including six here and two in Mumbai — on Thursday at several offices of Finance Ministry and Commerce Ministry, residences of Singh, Sharma and Gandhi.
The residence of a Upper Division Clerk (UDC) was also searched but he has not been arrested by the agency.
The sources said a trove of confidential documents and Rs 60 lakh cash was allegedly recovered from the residence of Gandhi besides large number of electronic documents have been found on the laptop, tablets and hard disks recovered from the residence of officials and CA.
It is alleged that the government servants were selling documents related to Foreign Investment Policies, which were being floated in the ministries, to Gandhi who in turn passed them on to big corporates for a price.
The racket was said to be active for the last two years and might have sold and influenced the policy of government regarding foreign investments in India.
“The Under Secretaries and Section Officers of ministries are custodian of policy documents and also the first movers of policy proposals. We suspect that they might be influencing the policies in favour of corporates. But that is a matter of probe,” a senior CBI official said.
The sources said agency was tracking the officials and the chartered accountant for quite some time and today intercepted a courier in Mumbai in which an entire confidential file was recovered. The courier was sent by Ashok Kumar Singh to Gandhi, sources said.
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