Military engineer in CBI net taking bribery

A Kochi-based Chief Engineer of the Military Engineering Services (MES) has landed in the CBI net on charges of receiving bribe, sometimes even through 'hawala route', for allocating construction work to contractors.

Rakesh Kumar Garg, the Chief Engineer (Naval Works) in Naval Base in Kerala's Kochi, was arrested along with five others and around Rs 5.18 crore in cash and six kg of gold biscuits recovered during searches conducted in 20 locations, including Delhi, Kochi, Ajmer and Kolkata, the CBI said on Monday.

The case unravelled after the agency received information that Garg was "collecting and demanding illegal gratification of 1% of contract amount from the contractors for issuing various civil contracts in the Naval Base in Kochi", according to the FIR. None of the accused named in the FIR could be contacted for their comments.

Garg allegedly does "not only directly receive bribe amount from contractors but also uses a Delhi-based contractor Kanav Khanna, who also carries out contract works in Kochi, and others. "It is learnt that the bribe money is usually handed over to Kanav Khanna through hawala route and through direct payment by private contractors," the FIR claimed.

The bribery money is also claimed to have been "initially parked" at Khanna's residence and then transferred to the house of Garg's relative Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal in Haryana's Rohtak, the FIR claimed. Khanna usually carried the money to Agarwal's residence and sometimes his associates would do.

CBI trap

Garg allegedly fell into the CBI trap in a recent case of demanding bribe from two contractors. He had allegedly demanded Rs 1.72 crore from the operators of M/s Pushkarraj Constructions and M/s Jain Builders after allocating a Rs 177.33 crore construction project involving the building of accommodation for sailors in Kochi.

He is claimed to have demanded Rs 83 lakh from Pushkar Bhasin and Rs 89 lakh from Praful Jain, the proprietors of the two companies, and they agreed to pay. While Bhasin handed over the amount to Khanna, the FIR claimed, Jain had arranged Rs 38 lakh through a relative Subodh Jain, which was said to have been handed over to Khanna's father Sanjeev.

"The tender committee selected the firms...the tender award letter is yet to be signed pending receipt of bribe amount" by Khanna, the FIR claimed.