CBI raids over 110 places; registers 30 cases

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation, in an unprecedented move, mobilised over 500 agents to conduct searches at over 110 locations spread out across more than 19 states and union territories on Tuesday, officials here said.

However, the raids were related to over 30 separate cases of corruption, criminal conspiracy, and arms license violations, which the probe agency registered recently.

Officials added that while the cases range from disproportionate assets amassed by public servants to fraud committed by bank officials, some of the action by

agency sleuths was over important cases it had registered earlier.

The arms licensing case, for instance, pertains to Jammu and Kashmir, where there were irregularities found in the way several arms licenses were being issued and renewed to residents of the area.

The CBI raided 13 private gun houses in Srinagar, Udhampur, and Jammu in connection with the case, where several documents pertaining to the alleged violation of arms licensing were recovered.

Officials here said money transactions between gun dealers and licensees were also found

Agency sleuths also recovered blank NOCs, purportedly issued by District Magistrates in addition to arms license issue registry allegedly of the office of the DM. Interestingly, agency sleuths also acted upon new information in connection with a case the CBI had registered against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, earlier this year. Agency sleuths recovered 14 important documents from the searches, out of which sources said "one was crucial to the case".