The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested Lieutenant Colonel Deepak Kumar Sharma, a private individual named Vinod Kumar, and several others in connection with a bribery case involving a Dubai-based firm.
The two were produced before a court on Saturday and remanded to police custody till Tuesday.
This comes after a case was registered against Sharma on Friday, based on credible intelligence inputs. He was the Deputy Planning Officer in the International Cooperation and Exports division of the defence ministry's Department of Defence Production.
CBI ARRESTS LT. COL. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE PRODUCTIONS, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE IN A BRIBERY CASE
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) December 20, 2025
Dated: 20.12.2025
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Lt. Col Deepak Kumar Sharma and a private person Vinod Kumar in a bribery case, today i.e. 20.12.2025.
The… pic.twitter.com/g12YRtAeYR
The CBI has also named Sharma's wife, Colonel Kajal Bali (Commanding Officer of the 16th Infantry Division Ordnance Unit in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan), in the case, though it has not yet specified her exact role.
According to a CBI statement, Sharma had engaged in corrupt practices multiple times in the past—mostly the acceptance of bribes from private companies in exchange for favours in defence-related dealings.
The CBI also identified two other individuals from the Dubai-based firm—Rajiv Yadav and Ravjit Singh—that played a major role in the bribery case.
The two individuals, who managed the India operations of the Dubai firm out of Bengaluru, had been in regular contact with Sharma to secure "various undue favours by illegal means for their company from various Govt. Departments and Ministries", the CBI statement added.
Vinod Kumar was accused of delivering one such bribe—of Rs 3 lakh—to Sharma on behalf of the Dubai-based firm on Thursday.
That Rs 3 lakh bribe was recovered in a CBI raid on Sharma's Delhi residence, in addition to Rs 2.23 crore in cash.
The raid on Sharma's Delhi residence was part of a larger set of CBI raids across multiple locations, including Sri Ganganagar, Bengaluru, Jammu, and Delhi. Rs 10 lakh seized from a place in Sri Ganganagar was also linked to the accused.
Incriminating documents and materials have also been found, as the raid on Sharma’s office in New Delhi continues.
