Top postal officer held for 2-cr bribe

The CBI on Thursday arrested Chief Postmaster General (Maharashtra and Goa) Manjit Singh Bali for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore....

The CBI on Thursday arrested Chief Postmaster General (Maharashtra and Goa) Manjit Singh Bali for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore.

Bali has been booked for conspiracy and corruption along with two alleged middlemen,a father-son duo of Arun and Harsh Dalmiya. The bribe,said CBI sources,was meant for procuring a no-objection certificate (NOC) for development of a private plot where a post office is coming up.

Bali was trapped on Wednesday evening at Café Moshe in Colaba,the spot where the bribe was to be paid. The trap followed a complaint by Rita Shah,a former corporator with the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation. All three have been remanded in police custody till March 3.

Shah initially approached Bali to seek an NOC from the Postal Department for development of the private plot in Naya Nagar,Mira Road.

The NOC of the Postmaster General was needed for development of the property, said CBI zonal director Rishi Raj Singh.

In January,Shah received a call from Harsh and Arun Dalmiya from their Nariman Point office of Watermark Financial Consultants. They suggested she should meet them for the NOC from the GPO. When I visited their office,I was shocked to see on their table the confidential plot documents given to Bali, said Shah. They then allegedly asked for a bribe of Rs 2 crore,on behalf of Bali: Rs 1.25 crore for Bali and the remaining for the Dalmiyas.

Shah then lodged a complaint with the CBI on February 12. Following this,an elaborate trap was laid.