The Palika Services Officers Institute (PSOI) scandal is one of six cases that CBI director Alok Verma accused special director Rakesh Asthana of being involved in.
New Delhi: The CBI Monday named two of its own officers in a chargesheet that it filed in the Palika Services Officers Institute (PSOI) scandal. The two have been charged with corruption and criminal conspiracy.
This is one of the six cases that CBI director, Alok Verma had mentioned before the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), alleging the involvement of special director, CBI, Rakesh Asthana.
The chargesheet filed at the Patiala House Courts Monday, however, does not mention Asthana’s name.
The chargesheet, though, names two CBI officers, then posted in the Anti-Corruption Unit III — Assistant Superintendent Rohit Srivastava and Rabinder Pradhan, now in the BSF – accusing them of colluding with the PSOI club’s caterer and middlemen and leaking sensitive information about corruption cases in exchange for favours.
Scandal at the club
The scandal came to fore after CBI raids at the PSOI in August revealed that the club was being used as a hideaway for the ill-gotten wealth of many public servants.
The club’s caterer Rakesh Tiwari, who has also been named in the chargesheet, was arrested after he was found to be in possession of details regarding hawala transactions conducted through a trader based in Old Delhi’s Dariban Kalan, apart from 20 Rolex watches, passports, and jewellery worth crores.
Also read: Cosy with CBI officials, caterer of Delhi club helped IAS, IRS officers stash loot
According to the CBI, Tiwari not only acted as a custodian of the illegal wealth of bureaucrats, but also helped his clients, mostly businessmen involved in matters of corruption, by getting tip-offs from the CBI about cases against them.
Investigations revealed that Tiwari was allegedly close to the officers from the AC-III unit of CBI who reportedly leaked information about ongoing corruption cases to the accused at Tiwari’s behest.
Mumbai businessman under the scanner
Another name mentioned in the chargesheet is that of Neeraj Raja Kochar, owner of a Mumbai-based company, Viraj Profiles. The company was allegedly used to route illegal money by one Vivek Batra, an Indian Revenue Service officer posted as additional commissioner, Mumbai, and his wife Priyanka Batra.
In July 2017, the couple was booked by AC-III for allegedly investing Rs 6 crore in Kochar’s company. According to investigators, after Batra was booked, Kochar was in constant touch with Tiwari and allegedly paid him lakhs to get sensitive information on the case.
In lieu of providing case-related information to Kochar, Tiwari allegedly accepted undue advantages in instalments to induce unknown public servants of the CBI.
“Investigations have established that Tiwari was in a criminal conspiracy with Kochar and two public servants of CBI to provide case related sensitive information and relief in the said case,” a CBI officer said.
Investigators have found out that Tiwari also allegedly received Rs 85 lakh in three instalments from Kochar, a part of which was also allegedly given to CBI officers named in the chargesheet.
The AC I unit of CBI is now investigating the role of AC III for passing on secret information to Tiwari and diluting the case against the IRS official and businessman Kochar.
Interesting that the CBI has left out information about the two IAS officers whose ill gotten wealth Rakesh Tiwari had hidden – one of them is a high profile officer, Parimal Rai – who was in the scanner even earlier.