CBI Takes Three CISF Officers into Custody Over Bribery Allegations

Ranchi, August 29: A special CBI court has remanded three officials from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to three days of custody in a bribery case. The officers, from the Regional Pay and Accounts Office in Ranchi, are accused of soliciting and accepting bribes in exchange for processing employee bills.

The accused were presented in the special CBI court in Ranchi on Friday. The CBI requested the remand to facilitate questioning and investigate the potential involvement of other officials, which the court granted.

According to the CBI, the arrested officials include Senior Accounts Officer Santosh Kumar Mahto, Assistant Accounts Officer Sunil Kumar, and Assistant Accounts Officer Sujit Kumar Singh.

It is alleged that the three officers demanded bribes from a head constable at the CISF-NTPC unit in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, in return for advancing the payment processes for various employee travel allowance (TA) bills and children’s education allowances.

The CBI registered a First Information Report (FIR) in this case on Wednesday. Following this, they conducted a sting operation on Thursday, leading to the arrest of the three officials while they were accepting a bribe of ₹48,400.

After the arrests, the CBI launched a search operation at five locations linked to the accused. The agency reported the recovery of several significant and incriminating materials during the searches.

The seized items included digital devices, documents related to property purchases, investment records, jewelry-related documents, bank transaction papers, and a substantial amount of cash.

The CBI also confirmed that a significant amount of cash was recovered during the searches.

The investigation agency is now working to determine whether this bribery case is limited to these three officials or if other officers and employees are also involved.

The CBI stated that during the remand, the accused would undergo thorough questioning, and the recovered documents and financial transactions would be scrutinized. The investigation is ongoing.