By IANS,
New Delhi : A Delhi court Monday sent to judicial custody till Feb 1 an environment and forests ministry official arrested by the CBI for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs.7 lakh for getting environmental clearance for a mining firm in Odisha.
Central Bureau of Investigation Special Judge V.K. Gupta sent Neeraj Kumar Khatri, deputy director in the environment and forests ministry, to judicial custody along with two alleged middleman Chinmaya Sri Chandan and his father Achyutananda Sri Chandan.
The three accused were presented before the court after expiry of their CBI custody.
The CBI Jan 17 arrested Khatri and Chinmaya. The other accused was arrested later.
Khatri was arrested while allegedly accepting bribe from Chandan for arranging mining clearance for an Odisha based-firm of Chariot group.
The CBI said during the searches at Khatri’s houses in Rohtak and Gurgaon in Haryana and also at his office here, Rs.1 crore and several incriminating documents were recovered.
The Chariot group wanted clearance for its Raiboga mines at Birmitrapur in Sundargarh, Odisha. The company had allegedly hired S.S. Environics Pvt. Ltd. to get the clearance, alleged the CBI.
All the three accused have been booked under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and other penal provisions.