Jaipur: CBI sleuth on the run after aide held with Rs 75 lakh bribe

JAIPUR: The middleman of a CBI inspector was on Friday arrested by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for taking a bribe of Rs 75 lakh in relation to an ongoing probe into a housing cooperative society case.
The accused middle man Shantilal Anchalia was caught taking the bribe of Rs 30 lakh in cash, and another Rs 45 lakh in 11 bank cheques from the complainant. The main accused, CBI inspector Prakash Chand, posted in the anti-corruption wing of the CBI Jaipur, remains at large despite joints teams of the CBI and ACB hunting for him.
DG (ACB) Alok Tripathi said that on February14, a person had filed a complaint with the ACB, that CBI inspector Prakash Chand through his aide Anchalia was forcing him to pay a bribe of Rs 1.5 crore while threatening to arrest him in the housing society case. Despite the fact that Rs 90 lakh were already paid, Prakash Chand continued to ask for more money for “settling” the cases.
According to sources, 18 cases related to a housing cooperative society were handed over to the CBI by the Rajasthan High Court. Prakash Chand was appointed Investigation Officer (IO) in three of those cases. “The complainant is a 75-year-old man who was one of the office bearers in the housing cooperative society. As soon as Prakash Chand took over investigation of three cases, he began to threaten the complainant that as a case IO he has powers to arrest him,” an official said, adding that the complainant was told that cases against him will be watered down he if pays the amount.
The complainant agreed to pay the bribe as he feared a CBI arrest, “The complainant said he could not arrange so much of cash due to financial problems. He requested to gift a plot to the accused, but Prakash Chand wanted a very expansive piece of land which the complaint said he could not afford,” the official said.
After realizing that the complainant was floundering from his commitment to pay the bribe, Prakash Chand On March 5 issued a notice to the complainant, asking him to appear before him with all the documents for the investigation.