5 Customs officials held for taking Rs 50 lakh bribe

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested five Customs officers in Mumbai in connection with its probe into an alleged bribery complaint pertaining to the clearance of a consignment. Those arrested by the agency were identified as deputy commissioners Mukesh Meena, Rajeev Kumar Singh, Sudarshan Meena, Sandeep Yadav, a superintendent — Manish Singh — and a private person. The accused Customs officers, who are attached to the Rummaging and Intelligence Wing, had sought and accepted a bribe of Rs 50 lakh via the private person to clear a consignment.

A team of CBI officers laid a trap and caught two of the accused deputy commissioners and the private person, Nilesh Singh, soon after they accepted Rs 5 lakh from the partner of the complainant. Searches were conducted at the accused’s residences, in which allegedly incriminating documents were found, said CBI officials.

The investigators also apprehended Singh for accepting first instalment of the bribe allegedly on behalf of the accused officers.

“The officers sought Rs 50 lakh for arranging to release a Customs consignment. The bribe was to be paid in instalments and Rs 5 lakh was the first instalment,” said a CBI officer.

The person concerned approached the CBI and lodged a complaint against the demand of bribe for managing the clearance of the consignment, which was illegally kept on hold and for not holding his consignments that were in pipeline.

It was further alleged that Singh had assured the partner of the complainant that he would manage the officers of Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (SIIB), Marine and Preventive (M & P) and R & I Wings of Customs and would clear the consignments without any hurdle.

During the subsequent investigation, officials also discovered the alleged roles of two more deputy commissioners and the superintendent following which they were also arrested.