5 senior Customs officials held for graft

In a major swoop, five officials of the Customs department, including four officers of the rank of Deputy Commissioners and one Superintendent and a Customs House Agent, were arrested in a bribery case by the CBI.

This is perhaps for the first time that so many high-ranking officials have been arrested on charges of corruption.

The accused were identified as: Mukesh Meena, Deputy Commissioner, Customs, Rummaging & Intelligence (R&I), Nhava Sheva; Rajeev Kumar Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Customs (M&P); Sudarshan Meena, Deputy Commissioner, Customs (SIIB); Sandeep Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Customs; Manish Singh, Superintendent, Customs and Nilesh Singh, a Customs House Agent.

The CBI has registered a case against them under section 120 B of Indian Penal Code and section 7 and 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The allegations against the accused were that the Customs officers in conspiracy with private persons demanded a gratification of Rs 50 lakh from the complainant, for managing the clearance of the consignment which was illegally kept on hold and for not holding his consignments which were in the pipeline.

It was further alleged that the CHA had assured the partner of the complainant that he would manage the officers and would clear the consignments without any hurdle. The CBI caught two Deputy Commissioners and the CHA red-handed for accepting Rs 5 lakh as the first instalment of the bribe.