CBI arrests Customs’ Additional Commissioner for graft in Ludhiana

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 9

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested an Additional Commissioner and a Superintendent of the Customs Department here in a bribery case involving Rs 1.3 lakh, an official spokesperson has said.

Those arrested have been identified as Parul Garg, Additional Commissioner, Customs Commissionerate, Ludhiana, and Dharamvir Singh, Superintendent, Customs, Amritsar.

According to information, the CBI had registered a case against the Superintendent, Customs, Amritsar, on a complaint of a trader, who runs a partnership firm in Mandi Gobindgarh and deals in the business of import of scrap.

The complainant informed the CBI that he had approached the Superintendent, Customs, Amritsar, for releasing his two loaded containers of scrap. He alleged that the Superintendent demanded a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh and informed the complainant that the bribe amount was also to be shared with the Additional Commissioner. The deal was clinched at Rs 1.3 lakh.

Acting on the complaint, the CBI laid a trap and caught the Superintendent accepting the bribe of Rs 1.3 lakh. “Subsequently, the role of Additional Commissioner, Customs Commissionerate, Ludhiana, allegedly came up in the bribery case and she was also caught,” the spokesperson said.

Later, the CBI also conducted searches on the premises of both the arrested accused in Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Chandigarh. While Rs 59.4 lakh and some incriminating documents were recovered from the premises of the Additional Commissioner, Rs 2.6 lakh and certain incriminating documents were seized from the premises of the Superintendent during the searches.

Both the arrested accused will be produced before the court of Special Judge, CBI, Mohali, the spokesperson added.

Number 2 officer

Additional Commissioner Parul Garg, who was arrested, is Number 2 officer in the Customs Commissionerate holding multiple charges after the Commissioner.

Jurisdiction

The Customs Commissionerate in Ludhiana has the jurisdiction over Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. The office is located on GT Road at Sahnewal, near here.