The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested seven people, including two Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers, over their alleged involvement in a bribery scandal at the Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) in Mumbai. The operation, which commenced on Tuesday, led to the arrest of Joint Development Commissioner CPS Chauhan, Deputy Development Commissioner Prasad Varwantkar, and five others, including two assistant development commissioners.
According to officials, the accused allegedly extended undue favours to a group of middlemen in exchange for monetary benefits. As per the information, searches were conducted at the official and residential premises of accused at various locations in Mumbai which led to the recovery of documents of 27 immovable property documents etc. and 3 luxury vehicles found at the residence of the accused JDC. During the searches, the CBI also seized documents of 25 properties from Chauhan believed to be worth Rs 40 crore.
In total, around Rs 50 lakh has been seized during the searches at the premises of the seven suspects, with Rs 40 lakh understood to be from the premises of arrested Assistant Development Commissioner Rekha Nair. It was alleged that the officials posted at SEEPZ-SEZ Mumbai were collecting undue advantage through middlemen from the parties functioning from SEEPZ in the matters of allotment of space, disposal of imported goods, sale of duty free imported goods in market without paying duty, favoring civil contractors in lieu of monetary consideration.
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