New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a Deputy Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chintan Raghuvanshi, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a Bhubaneswar-based businessman, officials said on Friday.
According to the CBI, Raghuvanshi had allegedly demanded Rs 5 crore from Ratikanta Rout, who runs a stone mining business in Dhenkanal, in exchange for leniency in an ongoing ED investigation.
The arrest followed a trap operation after Rout approached the CBI with a complaint, claiming he had been summoned to the ED office in March. “Raghuvanshi asked me to meet someone named Bhaghti if I wanted relief in the case,” Rout stated in the FIR.
Officials said Bhaghti allegedly stayed in contact with Rout via FaceTime, pressing him to pay up. On May 27, Bhaghti allegedly told Rout that Raghuvanshi wanted Rs 5 crore to prevent the attachment of his hospital and avoid arrest. When Rout said he couldn’t arrange the amount, the officer allegedly reduced the demand to Rs 2 crore.
“Raghuvanshi was caught accepting the first instalment and arrested after questioning,” a CBI official confirmed.
Raghuvanshi, a 2013-batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes), was produced before a special CBI court in Bhubaneswar.
His counsel Siddhant Mohanty said, “The court has sent him to 14 days of judicial custody. The bail petition is still pending and will be heard on June 4.”