Overview
- The CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch registered a case on August 26 under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act after a complainant alleged a CGST superintendent demanded an undue advantage that was later negotiated from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 40 lakh.
- In a trap on August 27 the agency caught Customs House Agent Narinder Rajput allegedly accepting Rs 40 lakh as a conduit for Superintendent Rakesh Kumar Sinha and Additional Commissioner Vinay Kumar Kantheti.
- A Special CBI Court in Thane on August 28 rejected the CBI’s request for custody, deemed the arrests illegal, and released the accused, prompting the CBI to challenge that order in the Bombay High Court.
- The Bombay High Court on September 16 allowed the CBI’s revision, set aside the special court order and remanded the accused to two days of CBI custody, after which Sinha and Rajput were sent to 14 days of judicial custody.
- On Monday, September 21 the CBI traced and took into custody the previously absconding Additional Commissioner Vinay Kumar Kantheti in Rishikesh and the probe remains active; the case centers on alleged demands of illegal gratification by public servants and was built using a sting operation with an intermediary.