One official, a joint secretary in the ministry, was involved in an excise duty evasion scandal of Rs340 crore. The other was a director involved in corruption in the purchase of bulletproof jackets for central forces.
A senior officer of the Indian Administrative Service and another bureaucrat, both in the Union home ministry, have been booked for corruption in two separate cases by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The agency conducted searches at their homes, apart from arresting a businessman and three excise officers.
A case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against O Ravi, joint secretary (disaster management), excise inspectors Ramesh Mahyavanshi and Vijay Halpati, and sub-inspector Suresh Dhodi.
They have been charged with involvement in an excise duty evasion scandal to the tune of Rs340 crore, the CBI said today.
Even as searches were continuing in connection with the case, the CBI arrested Ashok Khemani, owner of Royal Distilleries, and the three excise officers.
Khemani was arrested from a posh hotel in the national capital while the others were arrested from Daman.
Ravi, a 1983-batch Gujarat-cadre IAS officer, allegedly took a bribe of Rs25 lakh to get the Daman administrator transferred, a CBI spokesperson said.
The home ministry has asked the department of personnel and training to suspend Ravi. The suspension order is likely to be issued soon.
The directors of six distilleries — Royal, Jupiter, Krimpy, Silver Star, and Dharmesh — and some unknown persons were also booked for alleged fraud.
"It has been alleged that to evade excise duty and VAT, the distilleries of Daman, in connivance with officials of the excise department, resorted to under-reporting of production by preparing fake documents," the spokesperson said.
The CBI conducted searches at 36 places owned by the accused persons at Daman, Mumbai, and New Delhi.
In the second incident, the central agency conducted searches at the residential and office premises of a home ministry official of the rank of director and a private party in connection with a case of corruption in the purchase of bulletproof jackets for central police forces. A case was registered against him.
The case was registered this month against RS Sharma, an Indian Railway and Engineering Service officer of the 1984 batch, who allegedly developed a nexus with some private firms involved in the supply of 59,000 bulletproof jackets for paramilitary forces, a CBI statement said.
"An officer of the [home ministry] developed nexus with certain private firms supplying security equipment such as armoured panels, bulletproof jackets, helmets shields, etc for granting undue favours to such firms," Harsh Bahl, official spokesperson of the agency, said.
The official established an "unauthorised" contact with the private firm and had been demanding and accepting illegal gratification for favours shown, he said.
"Searches are being conducted at the residential and official premises of the accused officer and residential and factory premises of the owner of the private firm," he said.
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