Ex-ED joint director JP Singh arrested for allegedly receiving bribe

New Delhi: Nearly 18 months after lodging a case, the CBI on Tuesday arrested former Enforcement Directorate Joint Director JP Singh for allegedly receiving bribe for favouring an accused in the IPL cricket-betting scam.

Singh, a 2000-batch Indian Revenue Service officer of the Customs and Excise wing, was arrested along with three others -- Sanjay (enforcement officer), Vimal Aggarwal and Chandresh Patel.

Immediately after registering a case in September 2015, the CBI had carried out searches at various places in Mumbai and registered a case against Singh in Ahmedabad. Singh was later repatriated to his parent cadre and is at present posted as Additional Commissioner (Customs and Excise Department) in Northeast.

All the four were arrested here and produced before a designated court which granted them a transit remand till February 23 so that they can be produced before the CBI court in Ahmedabad.

The CBI had earlier said it its FIR that "it has been alleged that certain officers of Enforcement Directorate while investigating the cases of money laundering in betting and other such activities have allegedly demanded and accepted huge illegal gratification from the accused and suspect persons in the cases."

The ED's Ahmedabad unit was probing the Rs 2,000-crore IPL betting scandal, and the Rs 5,000-crore money laundering case against alleged hawala operator Afroz Fatta, in which the suspects allegedly sought favours, official sources said.

CBI claimed that huge bribe amount was allegedly taken by these officers as quid pro quo for various acts of omission and commission.

The case against Singh and others has been registered under the provisions of criminal conspiracy under Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.

Sources said the ED Director had received multiple complaints from various quarters about the alleged demand for bribe by the senior officials of its Ahmedabad unit.

The complaints were forwarded to the CBI.