Enforcement Directorate officer caught taking Rs 20 lakh ‘bribe’ in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu,Dec 2 : An Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer was arrested after he was caught allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a government employee in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul. He was arrested by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.
The officer, identified as Ankit Tiwari, has been sent to judicial custody till December 15. Following his arrest, searches were carried out by the Dindigul district Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) at the ED’s Madurai office. Ankit Tiwari’s residence was also searched by the officials.
Investigation into the case showed that more officers from Madurai and Chennai were involved in this case, sources said.
Ankit Tiwari had allegedly been blackmailing many people and was taking bribes worth crores from them. He was also distributing the bribes to other ED officials, sources added.
Some documents have also been seized from him and more ED officials at the Madurai and Chennai offices may be searched in connection with the case, sources added.
BRIBE SOUGHT FROM EMPLOYEE
On October 29, Ankit Tiwari allegedly contacted a government employee from Dindigul in connection with a DVAC case against him, that had been closed. He told the employee that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had asked the ED to conduct an investigation into the matter.
Ankit Tiwari also asked the employee to appear at the ED office in Madurai on October 30 for further investigation. On the day the employee arrived at the office, the ED officer allegedly sought Rs 3 crore as bribe from him to close the investigation.
He later told the employee that he had spoken to senior officials and agreed to lower the bribe to Rs 51 lakh.
On November 1, the government employee purportedly gave the first instalment of Rs 20 lakh to the ED officer.
The ED officer later asked him to pay the full amount, saying the amount had to be shared among higher officials. He also threatened the government employee of severe action, if he failed to pay up.
Suspecting Ankit Tiwari’s demands, the government employee filed a complaint against him with DVAC’s Dindigul unit on November 30. Initial investigation revealed that Ankit misused his powers as an ED officer and a case was registered against him by the DVAC.
On Friday, December 1, Ankit Tiwari was allegedly caught red-handed while accepting the second instalment of Rs 20 lakh from the government employee.
-PTI
