The CBI on Saturday said it has arrested a Plant Protection Officer, Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Visakhapatnam, and three private persons in a bribery case and recovered Rs 1.86 crore during searches.
A case was registered against the Plant Protection Officer Padam Singh and Athi Bulli Reddiyya alias Murali, Regional Manager, Exim Logistics Pvt. Ltd., Visakhapatnam. The two other accused persons are S Siva Rama Gupta, resident of Visakhapatnam and proprietor of Quality Fumigation & Pest Control Services, Myla Srikrishna Varma, officials said.
It was alleged that Singh was demanding and collecting huge amounts of bribes from the CHAs, Fumigators and Shipping Agents for issuing Phytosanitary Certificates for exporting the goods and Consignment Release Orders for imported consignments.
It was further alleged that the public servant demanded illegal gratification from the Regional Manager of the private company based at Visakhapatnam for clearing pending application and issuing favourable certificate to Customs for release of import/export consignments of agricultural commodities.
“The CBI apprehended the Plant Protection Officer, Visakhapatnam and the said Regional Manager of private company and recovered the bribe amount of Rs 6,000,” the CBI said in a statement.
Searches were conducted at the premises of the accused and others, including his associates at Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Roorkee (Uttarakhand).
“Cash to the tune of Rs 1,29,63,450 was recovered from the premises of the public servant and Rs 56,86,000 allegedly belonging to the public servant was recovered from the premises of others. Certain incriminating documents were also recovered," the agency said.
The arrested accused persons are being produced before the Court of Principal Special Judge for CBI Cases, Visakhapatnam for further action, added the agency.