Ex-major’s arrest helps CBI close in on its own officer

The CBI is closing in on one of its officials  to crack a major corruption racket within the agency. The arrest of a former RA&W official from Khan Market on Thursday evening has unraveled the plot. Major Nirvikar Singh, an ex-Army officer, who on Thursday was arrested by the CBI, for demanding a bribe of Rs 30 lakh from a businessman, was produced before a court on Thursday and remanded to two-day police custody.

The businessman from whom the former Army official had allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 15 lakh as a part of the Rs 30-lakh bribe, too, was nabbed along with the former Army officer from Delhi’s Khan Market. The accused ex-Army official is said to be in close contact with an SP rank CBI official who is dealing with the trial of a case of fraud pending against the businessman.

According to sources, Nirvikar Singh is said to have built up a close rapport with the CBI official during a probe of disproportionate assets against him. It was on the behalf of the CBI official that the former Army officer is alleged to have asked the bribe from the businessman. The CBI official has not been arrested by the agency so <g data-gr-id="25">far,</g> but is under observation.

The CBI had registered an FIR against Singh, his mother Kiran and brother <g data-gr-id="26">Jagrut</g> on June 16, 2010, on charges of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The agency had alleged that during his 15 years of service, Nirvikar  Singh had earned around Rs 40 lakh, but he and his family members held assets of over Rs 9 crore, which was nearly 216 times his known source of income.

Major Nirvikar Singh had a four-year stint as the ADC of General SF Rodrigues (<g data-gr-id="28">retd</g>) between 2005 and 2009, who was then the Governor of Punjab. During this time, he had come under the CBI scanner with regard to clearance of some mega projects in Chandigarh, but was never named as an accused in these cases, which were also entrusted to the CBI.