CBI trapping of officer goes haywire

Chennai: Last week when sleuths from the anti-corruption branch of CBI ‘trapped’ an assessing officer at Customs House, Parry’s corner, in connection with an alleged bribe demand, not everything went smoothly as anticipated.

There was resistance from other Customs department employees, the sleuths failed to detect the amount handed over to the officer by the complainant and CBI officers had to display their muscle to pick up the officer accused of demanding a bribe.

Though the investigators from the premier agency arrested assessing officer Priyaranjan finally, the entire process turned out to be a nightmare for them. Sources said that at least two CBI inspectors, K.S. Nageswaran and K.C. Krishankuttty and their teams, were involved in the operation, which was based on a complaint from D. Thangaraj, general manager, Vaishnavi Metals, SIDCO industrial estate, Gummidipoondi, Tiruvallur district.

The complainant had imported a radiator stripping machine from a Chinese company. The machine was shipped from Ningbo port in China on November 21 and reached Chennai port on December 15. The duty was paid a week later.
However, the consignment was not cleared and assessing officer Priyaranjan wanted to meet Thangaraj in person before clearing the consignment.

Priyaranjan, through a customs house clearing agent, reportedly demanded Rs 38,000 bribe to give the final clearance of the machine worth US $5,500 (Rs 3.8 lakh).

The trap operation was carried out on January 4 based on a complaint from Thangaraj who refused to give 10 per cent of the purchase value of the machinery as a bribe to get Customs clearance.

As per the plan, the trap was set for the evening of January 4 after getting clearance from CBI’s anti-corruption branch SP. “On that day the CBI reached the Customs House at around 4 pm and closed the entry and exit points of the first and third floors before proceeding to the section where Priyaranjan was seated. Though the money was handed over to the assessing officer, the sleuths failed to detect the money in his possession immediately. This led to an argument and subsequent show of muscle power by the CBI team.

When his colleagues objected to the physical assault on Priyaranjan, the sleuths threatened them. His colleagues, including one Girish Yadav, were told by the CBI team that they will be also be booked under the prevention of corruption act, like Priyaranjan,” sources in Customs department said. “We had secured the accused,” was the only response senior CBI officials gave after the operation.