Five defence ministry officials arrested for graft

NEW DELHI - Five officials of the defence ministry’s accounts branch in Chandigarh have been arrested for demanding a bribe of Rs.45,000 from a contractor, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said here Thursday.

Senior audit officer Raj Kumar, senior auditors Deen Dayal Mittal and Devi Nandan and assistant account officers Devender Singh and Venugopal (only one name was known) were caught while taking the bribe Wednesday evening.

The accused belong to the office of Principal Controller of Defence Accounts in Chandigarh. The money was part of Rs.85,000 demanded by the officials.

The complainant said he had executed various works pertaining to supply of sports goods to different units under the army’s Western Command in Chandi Mandir and submitted bills amounting to more than Rs.85 lakh, a CBI spokesman said .

The contractor said that the officials demanded one percent of the bill amount as bribe for auditing the files and releasing the money, the official said.