CBI arrests ED official on corruption charges, court directs his release, terming arrest illegal

The arrest comes more than two weeks after the CBI registered two FIRs in a bribery case against Deep. The bribery allegations first came to light on December 22 last year when the CBI registered two FIRs based on complaints from Bhupinder Kumar Sharma, chairman of Dev Bhumi Group of Institutions, Una, and Rajneesh Bansal, chairman of Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions, Sirmour. Both complainants accused Deep and other ED officials of demanding bribes for not arresting them in cases registered against the institutions.

On Wednesday, the CBI claimed before the court that during his posting in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla last month, Deep had sought a bribe of Rs 60 lakh from a chairperson of an educational institute, who he was probing as part of the alleged scholarship scam.

The CBI claimed that the chairperson was summoned for the probe last month and two enforcement officers demanded Rs 20 lakh from him to not arrest him. He was also taken before Deep, who the CBI alleged, demanded Rs 1.10 crore but eventually settled for a sum of Rs 60 lakh as bribe to not arrest him.

The CBI claimed that it has proof of Deep’s conversation with the chairperson. The agency also claimed that last month, it laid a trap where Deep’s brother and cousin arrived in a car in Haryana and accepted Rs 55 lakh as bribe on behalf of the ED officer. However, the CBI claims that it could not arrest the men and they escaped. The two men were arrested a few days later and are currently in jail.

The CBI claimed that Deep continued to change his location and was found in Andheri in Mumbai on Tuesday, where he was arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act.The CBI sought two days of his transit remand to take him to Chandigarh to produce him in a court there.

Deep, on being produced before the special court in Mumbai, said he was arrested to ‘hide the corruption’ of the chairperson and a senior CBI official. Deep claimed that he was under constant threat and severe pressure from the CBI official to accept a bribe from the chairperson and to not conduct a fair probe.

Deep’s lawyers claimed that as he did not want to accept the bribe, he was conducting a discreet enquiry to apprehend the CBI official and the chairperson, and that he had filed a complaint against them on January 3 but he himself was arrested.

Deep’s lawyers Mudit Jain, Rahul Agarwal and Jasmin Purani claimed that his arrest was illegal as he was not given any notice nor was sanction taken under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court’s detailed order is yet to be made available.

Last month, in two cases, involving IRS officers in a separate case of alleged corruption, the CBI had to release arrested officials for not following procedure while arresting them.