Two Central Excise dept officials arrested for taking bribe

Chennai:

Two Central Excise Department officials in the city were arrested by
anti-corruption branch of Central Bureau of Investigation for
accepting bribes for issuing Form CT-1, a certificate for procurement
of excisable goods for export without payment of duty.



CBI said that the duo were arrested after R Bojan, managing partner of
RBS Group complained to the Anti-Corruption Branch of CBI that
Chandrasekhar, superintendent of Central excise, Chennai-1 Division of
Chennai Commissionerate was demanding money to issue CTS-1.



RBS has already furnished a Accepted General Bond of Rs 20 lakh and
was eligible to get excise duty exemption under CT-1 as per the norm.



But the Central Excise official demanded Rs 11,000 to issue the CT-1
form. Following which RBS approached anti-corruption branch of CBI.



A trap was laid and Chandrasekhar was caught red-handed while
demanding and accepting the bribe. When CBI officials quizzed him,
Chandrasekhar revealed that the amount was to be shared with Lionel
Fernandez, assistant commissioner of Central Excise.



CBI then arrested Fernandez also and later conducted searches at five
different places. During the raid, cash worth Rs 29.15 lakh and
several other incriminating documents were seized. Also FDRs worth rs
18.50 lakh were also seized.



The duo have been remanded to custody till April 23 after being
produced before the 9th Special CBI court.