The CBI on Monday said it has busted a multi-State job racket that falsely promised governorship and Rajya Sabha seats for `100 crore and even appointment as Chairman in different Government-run organisations under Central Government Ministries and departments against huge payment.
Prime accused Kamlakar Prem Kumar Bandgar, resident of Latur (Maharashtra), impersonated as a CBI officer posted at the agency’s headquarters here to impress upon the clients.
The agency has arrested Bandgar along with three other accused — Mahendra Pal Arora (resident of Delhi) Abhishek Boora (resident of Ghaziabad) and Ravindra Vitthal Naik (permanent resident of Mumbai/Belgaum). Fifth accused Mohammed Aijaz Khan, a resident of Delhi, is yet to be arrested.
The agency had conducted searches at seven locations in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka recently in connection with the case, officials said.
“Searches were conducted at seven locations, including at Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, which led to the recovery of incriminating material, including WhatsApp conversations, and other evidence,” the agency said in a statement.
The fifth accused, Mohammed Aijaz Khan, escaped during the search operation after allegedly assaulting CBI officers, they said, adding that a separate FIR was filed against him at the local police station in connection with the incident involving assault on public servants.
The agency, in its FIR, has named all five accused in connection with the case.
A special CBI court, however, has granted bail to all the four persons arrested by the agency.
It is alleged that Bandgar, who impersonated a senior CBI officer and flaunted his “connections” with highly placed officials, had asked Arora, Boora, Naik and Khan to bring any sort of work that he could fix in lieu of payment of huge illegal gratification.
They conspired with “the sole ulterior motive of cheating private persons by falsely assuring them of arrangement of seats in the Rajya Sabha, appointment as Governor, appointment as chairman of different Government-run organisations under Central Government Ministries and departments against huge pecuniary consideration,” the FIR alleged.
The agency came to know through its sources that Boora discussed with Bandgar how the latter’s purported connections with high-ranking officials playing “pivotal roles” in appointments could be exploited to get the work done.
It surfaced that the accused were attempting to cheat people by falsely assuring them of candidature for the Rajya Sabha against a huge consideration to the tune of `100 crore, the FIR stated.
The CBI received information that they would drop names of senior bureaucrats and political functionaries to impress clients approaching them for some work either directly or through a middleman like Abhishek Boora, it stated.
It also emerged that Bandgar threatened police officials of various police stations to grant favours to people known to him for influencing the investigation of ongoing cases, the FIR alleged.
4 held for luring people into trap, 5th assaults CBI team and flees