ADG Chennai of DRI Arrested by CBI for Accepting Rs. 8 Lakhs Bribe from Burmese National

The CBI's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has been granted four days' custody of C Rajan, additional director-general, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), and his driver Murugesan, who were arrested on charges of accepting graft. T Ravindran, IX additional special judge for CBI cases, passed the order on Friday saying the duo would remain in custody from March 9 to 12. Officers were directed to produce both men in court on or before 5pm on March 12.

It is believed that Rs. 2 Lakhs was recovered from his residence in cash. Bank Balance and FD of Rs. 10 Lakhs was frozen.

The petition was filed by the additional superintendent of police, CBI, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), seeking custodial interrogation of Rajan and Murugesan for five days to obtain certain information which was within the "exclusive knowledge of the accused". This related to the transactions between them and Pudupet resident F Ubaidullah, who lodged the complaint with CBI-ACB leading to the duo's arrest, the files seized by the DRI and to confront the accused of reference to the documents collected by the investigating officer (IO) during the course of further investigation.

Passing orders, the judge said the IO had made a valid case for seeking police custody. While granting police custody, he directed authorities to provide necessary food, shelter and medical assistance. The IO was also directed not to inflict any cruelty, both physical and mental, on the accused. The judge said that if needed, both men could take legal assistance and meet their respective lawyers between 4.30 and 5pm during police custody.

Rajan was arrested on the night of March 6 for allegedly accepting a bribe of 2 lakh and an iPad from 'Superking' Myatzin, a Burmese national of Indian origin, to defreeze the latter's account and to not book Myatzin under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act. The complaint said that while Rajan initially demanded Rs 10 lakh, he brought it down to 8 lakh subsequently. The official had instructed a man to hand over the money to his driver Murugesan, the complaint added.