The CBI has arrested four people, including an official and a principal scientist of the Jorhat-based CSIR-NEIST for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 8 lakh from a businessman to pass a equipment purchase contract, officials said on Saturday.
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-North East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR-NEIST) is a research and development organisation based in Assam's Jorhat.
The institute's Controller of Stores and Purchase (COSP) Praveer Mohan Verma and Principal Scientist Prasenjit Manna were taking the bribe from Kangkan Kashyap of KXK Technologies Pvt. Ltd and his brother Angkan Borpujari for favouring the company and passing a bill for the supply of a spectrophotometer and its associated software, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged.
The probe agency laid a trap and arrested Manna, Verma and Borpujari in Jorhat on Friday, and Kashyap from Guwahati on Saturday, the officials said.
The CBI has also conducted searches at 18 locations in Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, they said.