Bribery case: Censor board CEO in police custody till Aug 22

The special CBI court on Tuesday remanded the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) CEO Rakesh Kumar, who the CBI had arrested for allegedly accepting bribe, in police custody till August 22. The agency, while seeking Kumar's custody, told the court that the official used to allegedly take illegal gratification in lieu of issuing censor certificates to various films.

CBI counsel told the court that Pravin Mohare, the authorised agent of censor certification, had applied for a censor certificate for a regional language film from Chhattisgarh on August 7 on behalf of a producer. The next day, Mohare had met the accused and given him a request letter from the producer for urgent trial of the film, but Kumar had rejected his request and told him he will take another 15 days for issuing censor certificate.

"However, as the producer had already announced the release date, he met another agent who told him that without a bribe the CEO won't issue a censor certificate," read the CBI's remand copy. As Mohare did not want to pay a bribe, he approached the CBI and filed a complaint against Kumar.

The CBI counsel told the court that after the complaint was registered, the agency started investigating the case. "As of now, four men have been arrested and they have revealed all the details, which, prima facie, suggest that Kumar and his associates were running an entire racket of accepting illegal gratification for issuing certificates. Also, the agency wants to find out the modus operandi of the accused," the counsel said.

The remand application added that Kumar was found in possession of cash worth Rs10.5 lakh. Also, during his house search, the agency found several expensive watches.