Jaipur, Jun 8 (PTI) A special court in Bikaner on Monday remanded a nominated director of the Rajasthan State Seed Corporation and five others arrested in a bribery case to police custody until June 12.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Sunday night arrested Jugal Kishore Bishnoi, the nominated director of the seeds corporation, and five others, namely Swatantra Bishnoi, Ganpat Ram Bishnoi, Kiran Kapadia, Sunil Sethia and Satpal, after the agency recovered the bribe amount they took to settle a case against a seed company owner.
According to ACB officials, the company owned by Kiran Kapadia was facing action after authorities raided its warehouse, collected seed samples for testing, stopped the sale of its Gajraj-brand groundnut seeds that arrived from Gujarat, and sealed the premises.
The bureau received a complaint that a bribe was paid to settle the matter.
Officials said the accused allegedly took Rs 2.5 crore to facilitate the return of suspected fake groundnut seed stock back to Gujarat and to ensure that no action was taken against Kapadia’s company.
Of this, the bureau has so far recovered around Rs 2.44 crore.
According to officials, Rs 85 lakh was seized from Swatantra Bishnoi, a nephew of Jugal Kishore Bishnoi, when he was travelling in a private bus on Sunday. The cash was being transported on the instructions of the seeds corporation director, investigators said.
Subsequently, raids were conducted at Jugal Kishore Bishnoi’s residence on Jaipur Road in Bikaner, which led to the recovery of Rs 1.58 crore in cash.
According to officials, the money was allegedly paid to influence official action, suppress the case, facilitate the return of the seed stock to Gujarat and help the company obtain favourable treatment, including clearance of seed samples and resumption of seed sales.
The raid against the company was conducted by Agriculture Minister Kirodi Lal Meena along with a team of officials last month. PTI SDA RUK RUK
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