‘Bribery racket’ at Mumbai’s SEEPZ: CBI seizes Rs 60 lakh in cash, property worth Rs 40 cr, 3 luxury cars

2 IRS officers are among nine accused of ‘collusive corruption’ & collecting bribes via middlemen. The accused were arrested Wednesday, but were later released on bail.

SEEPZ administrative office | sezindia.gov.in

New Delhi: Busting a massive bribery racket at the Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) in Mumbai, the Central Bureau of Investigation Wednesday arrested seven public servants and two officers of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), on the charge of collecting undue financial gains from parties functioning at the Special Economic Zone.

During the searches, the federal probe agency recovered a cash haul of approximately Rs 61.5 lakh and papers of 27 properties worth nearly Rs 40 crore. A sum of Rs 47 lakh was recovered from an accused Assistant Development Commissioner (ADC).

Sources in the agency told ThePrint that the two IRS officers arrested on the charge of collecting bribes through middlemen have been identified as Chander Pal Singh Chauhan, Joint Development Commissioner (JDC), and Prasad Varawantkar, Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC).

However, a special CBI court rejected the remand application moved by the agency and released all accused, including Chauhan and Varawantkar, on bail, ordering all of them to cooperate during investigation.

Advocate Rahul Agarwal, who represented Chauhan before the court Wednesday, said that they challenged the reasons and timing of the arrest as the time of their arrest was around midnight the same day, according to the records.

Chauhan is a 2009-batch officer of IRS (customs & central excise), who has been serving at SEEPZ since September 2019, while Varawantkar, an IRS (customs & indirect taxes) officer of the 2014 batch, has been on deputation with SEEPZ since July last year.

The development comes after the CBI booked retired development commissioner, N.P.S Monga, and former JDC V.P. Shukla on 26 November under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, based on a complaint by a SEEPZ official that the duo had abused their power and handed contracts of structural repair to an ineligible agency in exchange of undue advantage.

Set up in May 1973, SEEPZ was initially an Export Processing Zone for the manufacturing and export of electronic goods, and converted into a Special Economic Zone in November 2000 after the formulation of policy by the Union government. In 1988, the government had also permitted the manufacture and export of gems and jewellery items from SEEPZ.

 

‘Bags & envelopes of cash’

The crackdown by the federal probe agency began after it booked a total of nine persons, including the two senior SEEPZ officials, Tuesday.

The case was registered by the Mumbai branch of the agency’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, which had received information about the rampant “collusive corruption” at the SEEPZ, allegedly being perpetrated by JDC Chauhan. 

It is alleged that officials at SEEPZ were collecting bribes through middlemen from business persons and companies operating out of the Special Economic Zone in exchange for allotment of preferred space, disposal of imported goods and facilitation of sale of duty-free imported goods in the market without paying duty.

CBI officials were informed that cash amounting to Rs 60 lakh allegedly collected by JDC Chauhan was kept at his office situated in the Andheri campus of SEEPZ in bags and envelopes. The officials also recovered documents of some 27 immovable properties valued at around Rs 40 crore and three luxury cars from the JDC’s residence.

The agency spokesperson said that one private person, who worked as a middleman for SEEPZ officials, allegedly collected a bribe of Rs 15 lakh on 12 December and handed it over to the JDC. Out of the bribe amount handed over, the JDC is said to have kept Rs 7 lakh for himself, while distributing the remainder among his peers and subordinates. 

“Rs 4 lakh out of the bribe amount of Rs 15 lakh collected on 12 December was recovered in searches carried out Wednesday,” a CBI spokesperson said.

ThePrint reached out to JDC Chauhan via text message for a comment. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.