The CBI has arrested two officials of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), in a bribery case where the officials had allegedly manipulated allocation of space for stalls at the upcoming Aahar Expo, scheduled to take place at Pragati Maidan from March 3 – 7.
Officials said that the two were arrested on February 17 and both had been remanded to police custody for the central agency to question them.
Akshay Singh, Deputy Manager in ITPO was first arrested in a trap while accepting Rs 35,000 bribe from the complainant who was supposed to arrange for space booking and decoration of stalls at the fair.
The Central Bureau of Investigation also arrested Singh’s immediate superior, Rohit Sonkar, Manager at ITPO in the case and has alleged that the initial demand was for Rs 1.25 lakh in exchange for releasing paperwork that would allow the complainant to start his work at the site in Pragati Maidan.
According to the CBI’s case, one Linova Kitchen Equipment Pvt Ltd had outsourced the work of booking its stall and decorating to the complainant’s firm Four ACE Communication, based in Gujarat.
The complainant has alleged that when he visited the Pragati Maidan site to collect the allotment letter, bill and transport entry pass from Singh, he demanded a bribe of Rs 1.25 lakh to release the said paperwork.
The CBI laid a trap for Singh after the complainant approached the agency and caught the public official red-handed while accepting Rs 35,000, which was all the complainant could arrange for in a short period.
