CBI arrests ED assistant director for taking ₹20 lakh bribe
Sandeep Singh, an officer from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), is posted at the ED headquarters in Delhi as assistant director, Investigation Unit-1
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday late evening arrested an assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) while extorting Rs.20 lakh from a Mumbai-based jeweller, people familiar with the development said on Thursday.
Sandeep Singh, an officer from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), is posted at the ED headquarters in Delhi as assistant director, Investigation Unit-1.
He was caught red-handed by a CBI team from the Lajpat Nagar area around 11.30pm on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the ED also registered a case against Singh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and has taken action to place him under “immediate suspension” and repatriate him to his parent department, the financial crimes probe agency said in a statement.
It also carried out joint raids with the CBI on Thursday in the matter at Singh’s office.
The CBI said that it registered a first information report (FIR), naming Singh and other unknown persons, based on the complaint of Vipul Harish Thakkar, the jeweller.
According to officials, verification done by sleuths revealed that a “criminal conspiracy was hatched by Sandeep Singh with unknown others to obtain undue advantage from complainant of ₹20 lakh...for not arresting his son Nihar Thakkar in the matter being investigated by ED”.
Sharing details of the probe, ED said that it is conducting a money laundering probe against certain entities based on multiple FIRs from Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Bengaluru police.
“In this case, search action was conducted and completed on August 4. During the course of this action, Sandeep Singh, Assistant Director, ED, acting as the ‘search warrant authorized officer’, conducted the search at the residential premises in Mumbai of an individual under investigation,” the ED statement added.
Thakkar, ED added, is the owner of M/s V S Gold, an entity that was suspected to be part of money laundering.
“The search was uneventful and conducted as per the due procedure. Singh is not the investigating officer of this case. He was requisitioned for the limited purpose of conducting the search at the target premises. However, he represented himself as an investigating officer and allegedly accepted the bribe for favouring the accused, though he was no way connected with the case being investigated,” the ED added.
The ED further said that it took immediate cognisance of this incident, and following the policy of zero tolerance towards corruption, it has “initiated criminal action against Singh under the PMLA”.
“His office was jointly searched on Thursday by the CBI and the ED to collect evidence related to the offence. In addition to the PMLA case, action has also been initiated to place him under immediate suspension and for his repatriation to his parent department from ED,” it added.
There have been several instances of corrupt activities by ED officers, who are dealing with sensitive money laundering and foreign exchange cases, in the past one year.
In August last year, an assistant director, Pawan Khatri, and an upper division clerk, Nitesh Kohar, of the ED were arrested by the CBI for allegedly taking Rs.5 crore bribe from a businessman in connection with the Delhi excise policy probe.
An ED officer, Ankit Tiwari, was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in December last year for allegedly accepting a payment of Rs.20 lakh.
In another case, the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in November 2023 arrested Naval Kishore Meena, an Enforcement Officer (EO) in ED, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs.15 lakh for not attaching an individual’s property in a chit fund case.