The chairman and managing director of National Aluminium Company Ltd AK Srivastava and three others were arrested by the CBI in an alleged bribery case on Friday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation today arrested AK Srivastava, chairman and managing director of the state-owned National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), and his wife along with two others in a case of bribery.
The agency said it had recovered 10 kilos of gold bricks worth Rs2.11 crore from a bank locker allegedly being operated by Srivastava's wife and nearly Rs30 lakh in cash.
Besides the head of the Bhubaneswar-headquartered
company and his wife Chandni, the others arrested were alleged middleman Bhushan Lal Bajaj and his wife Anita, a CBI source said tonight.
All the arrests were made in the capital New Delhi, the source said.
The source said Chandni accepted illegal gratification of three 24-carat gold bricks, each weighing 1kg.
The team nabbed Chandni along with Anita just after they had allegedly deposited these bricks in a locker in a Bank of Maharashtra branch in New Delhi.
"This locker, in the name of the wife of the middleman, was being operated by the wife of CMD, NALCO, as a benami locker," an official CBI spokesperson said.
A search of the locker resulted in recovery of seven more gold bricks of 1kg each, gold ornaments weighing 188 grams, and Indian currency of Rs9.5 lakh, the spokesperson said.
"All the four accused have been arrested and further investigations are continuing," the spokesperson said.
It is alleged that Bajaj was brokering a deal between the NALCO chairman and a Madhya Pradesh-based group of companies, the CBI source said.
"Personal search of wife of CMD of NALCO also led to recovery of Rs5 lakh from her handbag and a key of another locker in the name of the wife of the middleman," the CBI spokesperson said.
A search of the second locker led to recovery of Rs15 lakh in cash.
The total recoveries so far have been put at 10.18kg of gold and Rs29.5 lakh in cash. The value of the seizure works out to about Rs2.43 crore at current prices of gold, the spokesperson said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}