The CBI on Saturday arrested SK Jain, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Syndicate Bank along with five others for allegedly taking a bribe of `50 lakh.
The others accused included noted advocate of Bhopal Vineet Godha and his brother Puneet Godha, besides local businessman Vijay Pahuja. CMD Jain is reportedly brother-in-law of Godha brothers.
On behalf of Jain, Godha brothers had taken the cash at their residence in Malviya Nagar from Vijay Pahuja, who was reportedly engaged in hawala business and had received cash from Bangalore.
Official sources said that Jain was arrested in Bangalore following charges of demanding a bribe to extend credit facilities of two companies.
The CBI has registered two cases against Jain and 11 other private people, including the CMD and directors of two Delhi-based private firms Bhushan Steel ltd and Prakash Industries on charges of criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Bhushan Steel vice chairman Neeraj Singhal along with Prakash Industries CMD Ved Prakash Agarwal and director Vipul Agarwal have been named in the case. The other names are Pawan Bansal, Vineet Godha and Punit Godha, Vijay Pahuja, Pursotam lal Totlani and Pankaj Bansal.
CBI sources said it is alleged that SK Jain has been indulging in negotiations for illegal gratification directly as well as through middlemen for extending undue favour to private companies by granting sanction to various financial proposals.
"It is further alleged that Jain was directly negotiating with a private company in one of the cases for an illegal gratification of `50 lakh in lieu of granting credit extension to the company as it had defaulted on the payment of loan instalments amounting to crores of rupees to the Syndicate Bank," said the CBI officials.
The company official later agreed to pay the gratification and the money was transferred to the middlemen who are also relatives of Jain. The CBI laid a trap and recovered the illegal gratification of `50 lakh on the spot after the delivery was made.
"Several asset papers and incriminating documents have been found. An amount of `21 lakh along with a fixed deposit of `63 lakh and gold worth `1.68 crore have been recovered from S.K. Jain," the CBI sources said.
Raids were conducted simultaneously at 20 places across Delhi, Bangalore, Bhopal and Mumbai, the official added.