CBI arrests Customs official in graft case, seizes Rs 1 cr

New Delhi, Aug 18 The CBI said on Tuesday that it has arrested an appraiser of the Customs Department and three others, including a Customs House Agent, a middleman, and a private individual in a graft case and seized Rs one crore.

A Central Bureau of Investigation spokesperson here said that the agency had arrested appraiser Saurav Sharma, Customs House Agent Neeraj, middleman Ram Krishan Mishra, and Kishore Kumar.

The official said that Sharma is presently posted at the office of Chief Commissioner of Customs in Tamil Nadu's Chennai.

Sharma, earlier posted as an appraiser at the Inland Container Depot at Tughlakabad in Delhi, was regularly pursuing private parties and a few officials for money in lieu of import consignments cleared by him during his tenure here.

Different parties had also been approaching Mishra to pursue their pending matters with Sharma.

The agency alleged that Sharma had told Mishra that a person will collect illegal gratification on his behalf.

"Mishra had allegedly delivered Rs seven lakh as part of the illegal gratification to the said private person. The CBI caught Mishra, Neeraj, and Kishore and seized the cash from them," the official said.

Searches at the office of Sharma in Chennai, his previous office in Tughlakabad, and residential premises of other accused in Delhi, Noida, Chennai led to the seizure of incriminating documents. The official said that Rs one crore was seized from the premises of Sharma's father.

( With inputs from IANS )