Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

CBI chargesheets former CBEC chairman

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday chargesheeted former chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs B P Verma and four others for 'entering into a criminal conspiracy and seeking illegal gratification by abusing his official position.'

The chargesheet was filed in the special court of Justice R K Gauba, who has fixed August 8 as the date for further hearing in the case.

B P Verma, his son Siddarth, Sharavan Kumar of A K Enterprises, a Chennai-based firm, and two others were charged under section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.

The agency said in the chargesheet that Verma allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with the other accused and abused his official position by demanding an illegal gratification of Rs 3.5 million from the Chennai firm to settle their dispute with the Customs department in Tamil Nadu.

CBI also said that Verma's son accepted a bribe of Rs 200,000, on behalf of his father, from a middleman, Vijay Pratap, on March 23, 2001 to help favourably settle the claims of false duty drawback against Shravan Kumar's firm.

CBI had also arrested another conduit, Bhavna Pandey, whose name did not figure in the chargesheet. However, CBI said that investigations against her were in progress and if needed a suplementary chargesheet could be filed.

ALSO READ:
More Money Headlines