An official said that Principal chief materials officer of North Eastern Railway, Gorakhpur, KC Joshi was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Lucknow unit of CBI.

New Delhi: A senior officer of the Northern Railways was arrested by the CBI for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh and a sum of around Rs 2.61 crore was later recovered during searches at his office various properties in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur.

An official said that Principal chief materials officer of North Eastern Railway, Gorakhpur, KC Joshi was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Lucknow unit of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday following an FIR registered against him the previous day by the probe agency under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

As per reports, the FIR against Joshi was registered based on a complaint filed against him by one Pranav Tripathi, proprietor of M/S Sukti Associates.

Following the FIR, the ACB laid a trap and caught him red-handed taking a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from Tripathi, officials said, adding that raids were conducted at his his office and residences in Gorakhpur and New Delhi in this connection during which a sum of about Rs 2.61 crore was recovered.

Citing the complaint, a CBI official said that Tripathi approached the agency on September 9 claiming that accused had demanded a bribe of Rs 7 lakh from him and threatened to cancel his firm’s registration from the GEM (Government e-Marketplace) portal if he did not pay him.

The GEM portal is meant for procurement of goods and services for all central government and state government ministries, departments, public sector units and affiliated organizations and it endeavors to make public procurement process transparent, efficient and inclusive.

The official said Tripathi’s allegations against the official were discreetly verified and further action initiated which led to the latter’s arrest.

Tripathi won a tender for the supply of materials from the Store Depot, Northeastern Railway Gorakhpur, in January 2023, which was valid until 15.01.2024, with a payment of Rs 80,000 per truck per month.

“Joshi, who is responsible for such matters, wrote to cancel the registration of Tripathi’s firm on the GEM portal and threatened to cancel ongoing tenders if a bribe was not paid,” read the complaint.

The CBI verified the complaint, which prima facie substantiated the allegations. Consequently, the CBI filed an FIR under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

(With IANS inputs)