Court set to try central excise commissioner, 4 others in bribery case

A Delhi court today decided to frame corruption and conspiracy charges against suspended central excise commissioner Anup Kumar Srivastava and four others for their alleged involvement in graft.

Special CBI judge Talwant Singh decided to frame charges of criminal conspiracy, misuse of official position and receipt of bribe against Srivastava and four others under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.

The court has fixed November 17 for formally framing charges against all five accused and putting them on trial.

Besides Srivastava, central excise superintendent Lallan Ojha and alleged middleman Hemant Gandhi are accused of taking hefty bribes from two businessmen Dilip Agarwal and Anand Agarwal for not taking any action against them in an excise evasion case.

According to the CBI, Srivastava, Ojha and Gandhi conspired to obtain illegal gratification from the businessmen and, on December 28 last year, a central excise team led by Ojha conducted an illegal raid at the godown of the Agarwals.

They negotiated for illegal gratification in return for not taking any action against the two businessmen and Rs60 lakh was fixed as bribe amount, which the Agarwals then paid, the CBI said.

The agency filed its charge sheet in the case against the five accused on February 29 this year.