New Delhi, Aug 12 (PTI) The CBI has arrested four individuals, including senior officers of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), in connection with an alleged bribe of Rs 6 lakh intended to expedite the clearance of a contractor's pending bill, officials said on Tuesday.
The arrests followed a raid by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday, based on intelligence suggesting that a contractor was about to pay a bribe of Rs 6 lakh to a senior CPWD officer at the department's RK Puram office.
The transaction was allegedly a part payment for clearing a bill of Rs 1.52 crore. The CBI raided the premises and arrested four persons on Monday, the officials said.
The CBI earlier registered an FIR against 12 persons, including four executive engineers, two assistant engineers, and two junior engineers from the CPWD, as well as several contractors and intermediaries, in a case alleging widespread corruption within the department.
The accused were regularly soliciting and accepting bribes from business proprietors in return for undue favours, ranging from awarding public contracts, permitting the use of substandard construction materials, and the clearance of inflated invoices, causing losses to the government exchequer, the CBI alleged.
Further details are awaited.