Madhav, a senior DANICS (Delhi, Andaman Nicobar Island Civil Services) officer, will be produced in court sometime on Friday, said a news agency.
IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai’s (2007 batch) office is being searched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday in connection with a high-profile case of bribery involving Gopal Krishna Madhav, Delhi Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s Officer on Special Duty, who was arrested late Thursday night by the agency on charges of accepting over Rs 2 lakh to cover-up a case of suspected GST evasion in the capital, said an official close to the development.
Udit Rai, a Union Territory cadre officer posted with the Delhi government, is suspected of involvement in the bribery case along with Madhav, however, he has not been named in the FIR yet, said the official.
CBI is also conducting searches on several other GST officials, suspected to be involved in the matter along with the Civil Lines home of the main suspect—Gopal Krishan Madhav.
Madhav, a senior DANICS (Delhi, Andaman Nicobar Island Civil Services) officer, will be produced in court sometime on Friday, said PTI.
Madhav’s arrest was carried out on a complaint by a transporter, who revealed that officers at the GST Delhi office at the ITO demanded a bribe to release his impounded trucks. He said a middleman named Dheeraj Gupta assured him to get the trucks released as he claimed to know the GST officers. Rs 3.30 lakh was settled as the bribe amount and Rs 2.26 lakh was handed over to Dheeraj Gupta, revealed the official, who didn’t wish to be named.
Madhav was posted in the office of Manish Sisodia immediately after the AAP government came to power in 2015.
Sisodia supported the arrest and called for the strictest action against Madhav who was on special duty in the Delhi government secretariat.
“The CBI should ensure strict punishment for him. I have caught many such corrupt officials in the last five years,” Sisodia tweeted.
The crackdown comes immediately before the Delhi assembly elections, which is being predicted as a direct fight between the Aam Aadmi Party AAP and the BJP.
Prasanta Patnaik