Kautilya Singh | TNN | Jul 9, 2016

DEHRADUN: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested an Army officer, Lt Colonel Bharat Joshi, posted in Instruments Research and Development Establishment’s (IRDE) military engineering services unit in Dehradun for accepting bribe of Rs 10,000 to issue a completion certificate. After being produced in the court of a duty magistrate on Saturday, the officer was sent to Dehradun jail till Monday.
According to the complaint, contractor Harendra Singh was given a contract for constructing two-storey residential buildings in the IRDE campus at Raipur’s Udhyan Vihar area. Singh was to collect Rs 16 lakh after completion of the work and he needed a completion certificate for the same, which had to be issued by Joshi.
Singh said that the officer demanded Rs 38,000 to issue the certificate. On July 4, Singh reportedly handed over Rs 10,000 as initial amount to Joshi. However, within a few days Joshi asked for another Rs 10,000 which was to be paid in his office. The remaining amount was to be given after Singh received his payment.
However, rather than handing over the amount, this time Singh approached CBI with his complaint. “After verifying the allegations we laid a trap to arrest the accused,” said a CBI official. As Singh was handing over the amount to Joshi, the CBI team arrested the officer.
Soon after this, senior CBI officers, including SP Sujit Kumar and deputy SP Akhil Kaushik, arrived at IRDE and questioned the accused. The team also conducted a search at Joshi’s office and his residence. The team also collected some documents and are scrutinizing them. A case under the relevant section of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused.
Meanwhile, sources said that another officer of the IRDE is also under CBI scanner as the agency has found some initial clues which linked him to the incident.