A designated court on Thursday sent the Chief Commissioner of Central Excise (Delhi) Someshwar Mishra and two others, arrested on charge of bribery on Wednesday night, to four days of CBI custody even as the agency completed searches of their premises. The three -- Mishra, industrialist Ashok Chaturvedi and his employee John -- were produced in the jam-packed court of special CBI judge M L Sahani, who said at this stage of the case, I am satisfied that police remand is made out.
He turned down the contention of the defence counsel that no case was made out against their clients. Meanwhile, CBI claimed to have recovered a diary from the residence of Chaturvedi with an entry of 50:50 against Mishra's name. The agency sources said they believed it was a code for the bribe amount of Rs 10 lakh that was to be paid to him in two installments of Rs five lakh each.
The sleuths of anti-corruption branch, who began raids at the residence of Mishra and Chaturvedi, owner of Noida-based Flex industry, also claimed that the industrialist had gifted a car to Mishra. Meanwhile, sources in the Finance Ministry said that any action against Mishra could be taken only after expiry of 48 hours of his arrest.
Bureau Report