Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ranjit Sinha has ordered an internal inquiry to ascertain why the team that conducted searches at the residence of Bhushan Steel vice-chairman Neeraj Singhal, in connection with a graft case against suspended Syndicate Bank CMD S.K. Jain, did not arrest him.
“We have ordered an internal inquiry into the non-arrest of Neeraj Singhal by our team,” said Mr. Sinha on Tuesday.
During the searches carried out last week in Delhi, apart from Mumbai, Bhopal and Bangalore, the CBI team reached Mr. Singhal’s premises when he was there. Although there were orders straight from the CBI Director to arrest him, the team instead served on him a notice under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code to join investigations the next day.
However, the Bhushan Steel vice-chairman later vanished from the scene and remains “untraced”. He has moved an anticipatory bail application that is coming up for hearing on Wednesday.
It is alleged that Mr. Jain had allegedly taken a bribe of Rs.50 lakh from Bhushan Steel to ensure that a nearly Rs.100-crore loan to the company was not declared Non-Performing Assets. Although the CBI has alleged that Prakash Industries had also paid bribe to the accused for the same purpose, it is yet to trace the amount. “The bribe money was being paid through the hawala channel,” said an official.
On Monday, the agency arrested another accused Mukesh Jindal and seized Rs.26.90 lakh in cash from his residence. He was produced before Special CBI judge Swarana Kanta Sharma. The agency informed the court that the accused is a cousin and employee of one of the already arrested accused. The court granted the agency his one-day police custody.
The court sent two other accused, Prakash Industries CMD Ved Prakash Agarwal and his junior colleague Vipul Agarwal, to judicial custody denying the agency’s request for extension of their police custody.
