New Delhi:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested AK Srivastava, the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) - a Public Sector Undertaking - his wife and two others in a bribery case. Srivastava will be produced in court today.
According to CBI, the agency had a tip-off that Srivastava was expecting a favour. The CMD had got his wife Chandni to accept an illegal gratification of three gold bricks, each weighing one kg. His wife had accepted this illegal gratification from the wife of a middleman who was brokering a deal between the CMD and Madhya Pradesh-based private group of companies.
At the time of CBI raid, the CMD's wife had just deposited the three gold bricks in a bank locker in Bank of Maharashtra, New Delhi.
The locker, which is in the name of wife of the middleman, was being operated by Chandni as
benami.
A search of this locker resulted in a further recovery of seven more gold bricks of 1 kg each, golden ornaments weighing 188 grams and Rs. 9.5 lakh.
Personal search of the CMD's wife also led to a recovery of Rs. 5 lakh from her handbag and key to another locker. Further search of this second locker led to recovery of Rs. 15 lakh in cash.
The total recovery, including the gold at current prices, value at around Rs. 2.43 crore.
All the four accused - Chairman and Managing Director of NALCO, his wife, a middleman and his wife - have been arrested. The agency is carrying out searches across the country.
Mr Srivastava was to chair a meeting of the NALCO Board of Directors on Saturday.