How Ajwani ran one-man extortion industry

Despite having paid a bribe of Rs 60 lakh in two different instalments to Ajwani, Agarwal, owner of the Karnataka Spinning Mill and an exporter, had to undergo one-month jail sentence at the Arthur Road prison in April-May this year.

Highly-placed sources told The Indian Express that Ajwani’s demands for the alleged bribe—Rs 1.5 cr—came from another exporter, Rajeev Agarwal. Rajeev took the money and delivered it to Ajwani. He did the dealing through a friend of Ramesh Agarwal, Harish Bulchandani. Ajwani allegedly dealt only through these agents, refusing to accept the cash directly.

Ramesh Agarwal’s business had been the target of the Central Excise Department since January this year. He was expecting an arrest warrant any time. His goods worth some crores had been detained and a credit advantage of Rs 11 crore that the unit was claiming was also stopped. Ajwani allegedly asked him to pay the bribe in instalments. In return he promised that no arrests would be made, and the goods would be allowed for export.

He paid an amount of Rs 50 lakh first through Rajeev Agarwal and bought time by approaching the Bombay High Court for anticipatory bail. He was granted an interim bail. When that period expired, he was promptly arrested and had to make Arthur Road prison his home for a month.

He then moved for regular bail, which the sessions court granted him. He paid another Rs 10 lakh to Ajwani through Bulchandani.

But his ordeal was not over. The demands continued. A high court order in Ramesh Agarwal’s favour, to allow the provisional release of the goods, so that they could be exported, was not implemented by Ajwani.

Instead, Ajwani allegedly threatened to arrest the exporter’s son this time, if he was not paid Rs 25 lakh immediately. That’s when Ramesh Agrawal decided he’d had enough, and decided to call up the CBI.

Meanwhile, Ajwani’s daughter Lehar is still untraceable. The 20-year-old is as tough a nut to crack as her mother, sources said.

Jt Commissioner of Excise held

MUMBAI: The CBI on Sunday arrested the Jt Commissioner of Central Excise, Umesh Goyal, in Gandhinagar for allegedly trying to bribe a CBI officer. Goel’s wife had started a diamond export firm at Gandhinagar, which showed an income of around Rs 5 crore, barely six months after its inception. On information of this firm, the CBI was probing the Jt Commissioner’s records.

Goyal is alleged to have dropped hints to investigating officer R.K. Das that he could ‘‘settle the matter.’’ The officer played along and invited Goyal to his house on Sunday. A hidden camera captured the proceedings, and the CBI trapped Goyal when he handed over the bribe amount of Rs 2 lakh to Das.