CBI arrests Indian Air Force officer for bribery

The CBI has arrested an Indian Air Force officer for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from a Mumbai-based firm over a works contract, an official said Monday. Assistant Accounts Officer Pankaj Kumar, serving under the Integrated Financial Adviser in the Air Force Station at Jamnagar was arrested Thursday by the anti-corruption wing of the CBI, an official informed.

Kumar had accepted a bribe of Rs 80,000 from JME Services Private Limited to help the Mumbai-based firm bag a contract of Rs 98 lakh, the official added.

The firm’s managing director James Masih and his son Robin have also been named in the CBI FIR though they are yet to be arrested, he said.

Kumar had demanded Rs 2 lakh from Robin to get the firm a contract to supply earth movers, tractors and labourers for a work at Naliya Air Force station in Kutch, the CBI FIR stated.

The bribe amount was brought down to Rs 1.25 lakh and Kumar was nabbed while he accepted an instalment of Rs 80,000, the official said. Kumar is currently in jail, he said.

The three have been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy under section 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code as well as under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the CBI official said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, in its FIR, has claimed that Kumar took bribes “frequently” from “different private suppliers” for various work tenders floated by the Indian Army and the IAF field formations falling within the jurisdiction of the Integrated Financial Adviser, Jamnagar.