In a major success against corruption, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recovered huge cash worth nearly Rs 4 crore and arrested officials of Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) from his residence, CBI said on Monday. The CBI stated the arrest and seizure, in which it said, "Ensuring zero tolerance to corruption, CBI has arrested Subedar Ojha, Manager (Secretariat) & PS to CMD Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) after recovery of Rs. 3.85 crore in cash from his residence during searches conducted on August 17, 2024. This amount was allegedly amassed from several contractors and officials in lieu of favours for their operations in NCL, Singrauli."
CBI arrests middleman
The CBI also arrested Ravi Shankar Singh, a middleman and Proprietor of Sangam Engineering in Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli, who was allegedly acting as a conduit between several NCL officials and various contractors/businessmen. He was facilitating and delivering bribes to these NCL officials. Moreover, Diwesh Singh, an associate of Ravi Shankar Singh was also caught red-handed while delivering a Rs 5 Lakh bribe to DSP Joy Joseph Damle of CBI's Anti-Corruption Bureau, Jabalpur, in lieu of obtaining a favourable report in the matters of pending complaints/investigation against them in CBI.
CBI DSP arrested
Ravi Shankar Singh and his associate were acting as a middleman between the NCL officers and J J Damle, who was also arrested. It was alleged that on the instruction of Ravi Shankar Singh, his employee Ajay Verma collected the undue advantage of Rs 5 Lakh from Lt. Col Basant Kumar Singh (Retd), Chief Manager, NCL, on August 16, 2024. The bribe amount was allegedly sent by Subedar Ojha. On August 17, 24, Ravi Shankar Singh instructed Diwesh to deliver this amount to DSP JJ Damle.
Earlier, a regular case under Section 61(2) of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered against Ravi Shankar Singh, Lt Colonel Basant Kumar Singh(Retd), Subedar Ojha, Diwesh Singh, Joy Joseph Damle, other officials and unknown others. Searches were conducted at several places in Singrauli, Jabalpur and Noida. During searches, huge amounts of cash, digital devices and several incriminating documents were recovered.
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