Bucket for Rs 2500 'scam': CBI nabs Arunachal's assistant professor for 'bribery' in purchases

New Delhi: A bucket for Rs 2,500! Sounds excessive? An assistant professor posted in back-of-the-beyond Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh has been arrested by the CBI for allegedly accepting a bribe in the purchase of 30 plastic buckets at inflated prices, officials said on Thursday.

In a corruption scandal laced with intrigue and excess, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Pavan Kumar Gaudar, an assistant professor in the College of Agriculture, Pasighat, and Anand Kumar Dwivedi, the proprietor of Matrix Solutions, the local vendor.

"He (Gaudar) has entered into a criminal conspiracy with Anand Kumar Dwivedi, proprietor of Matrix Solution, Pasighat, and unknown others with a predetermined intention to cause wrongful loss to College of Agriculture, Pasighat and corresponding wrongful gain to themselves in the matter of favourable award of contract and release of payment against bribe," the CBI FIR alleges.

At the core of the allegations lies the alleged inflated procurement of 30 Milton-branded plastic buckets supplied on July 3 and billed for Rs 75,000, which translates to Rs 2,500 a piece.

These buckets were priced at Rs 36,000 in the market, which is Rs 1,200 per piece -- a disparity that raised suspicions of corruption in the transaction, the FIR says.

The federal agency received an input that Gaudar was demanding Rs 63,000 from Dwivedi -- Rs 39,000, which was an inflated portion of the bill, and Rs 24,000 for previous deals -- of which Dwivedi had agreed to pay Rs 55,000.

The CBI also came across alleged payments of Rs 1.95 lakh received by Gaudar in a designated bank account from Dwivedi for preferential treatment in the procurement of various items.

"CBI laid a trap and caught both the accused while the public servant (Gaudar) was accepting bribe of Rs 55,000 from the private person (Dwivedi). Both the accused persons were arrested on July 23, 2025 and presently, they are in police custody. Searches at the premises of the accused persons are being conducted," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.