NTPC director grilled by CBI in bribery case

New Delhi: Days after registering a corruption case against him, the CBI has questioned Director (Finance), NTPC, Kulamani Biswal, and a private person in connection with an alleged bribery case.

The agency sleuths, sources said, questioned both for over two days at the CBI headquarters here. “Biswal was questioned along with father of another accused Rohit Reddy, Director of BGR Mining and Infra Private Limited”, sources said. Meanwhile, arrested accused Prabhat Kumar, an alleged confidant of Reddy, has been sent to judicial custody, they said.

Biswal, Reddy and Kumar were booked by the CBI on December 7 and the agency had also carried out searches at their premises. The agency registered an FIR against them, accusing them of criminal conspiracy, under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. The agency had reportedly attempted to arrest Biswal and Kumar at the time of alleged bribe exchange but the operation as not successful and only Kumar was arrested with the money. Biswal is also part of the Board of Directors of NTPC, the country’s largest energy conglomerate.

Kumar was allegedly assigned to deliver Rs 5 lakh of alleged illegal gratification to Biswal, sources claimed.

The FIR registered by the agency has alleged that Biswal demanded from Reddy that he should arrange US dollars of about Rs 5 lakh to be spent by him during his trip abroad. He was scheduled to leave for his overseas trip on Monday. Reddy offered to deliver the amount in Delhi or Bhubaneshwar, it alleged. Biswal then asked Reddy to give him the cash in Indian currency in Delhi itself which he would convert to USD, the agency alleged, adding that Reddy told him that the amount would be delivered by Kumar in Delhi.

“Reddy arranged for the delivery of Rs 5 lakh in cash through hawala channels to Prabhat Kumar for further delivery to Kulamani Biswal in Delhi,” it alleged. Kumar was arrested by the agency while he was about to deliver the amount, sources said.