DGFT officer dies by suicide hours after arrested for bribery

The joint director general of foreign trade, Jawri Mal Bishnoi on Saturday allegedly died by suicide in Rajkot, hours after he was arrested by CBI for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh.

Bishnoi was accused of demanding Rs 9 lakh from a businessman in lieu of a no-objection certificate to export food cans. The NOC was required to get his bank guarantees of Rs 50 lakh back.

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The Rajkot city police has registered the incident as an accidental death at Pradyuman Nagar police station. Police said Bishnoi jumped off from the fourth floor of his office while the CBI team was doing panchnama. He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead.

The family members of the officer refused to take his body alleging foul play. One of the family members told reporters in Rajkot that "Bishnoi was murdered".