The Hindu : Front Page : AICTE brass in CBI net

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 17, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

AICTE brass in CBI net

Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Thursday arrested a Member-Secretary of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)and a middleman for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs.5 lakh from the owner of an engineering college in Andhra Pradesh.

A spokesperson of the CBI said that the agency registered a case on the basis of a complaint by the owner of the college. The allegation was that a middleman had asked him Rs.20 lakh on behalf of the Member-Secretary for inspection and approval of his college.

The middleman had agreed to accept Rs.5 lakh as the first instalment.

The agency laid a trap on Thursday morning and the middleman and the official were arrested while allegedly demanding and accepting the money.

A search operation was conducted at the Delhi office and Hyderabad residence of the official and the middleman’s residence at Ongole in Andhra Pradesh.

Cash recovered

The spokesperson said cash to the tune of Rs.9 lakh was recovered from Hyderabad, and documents relating to bank accounts and properties recovered were being scrutinised.

In another instance, the CBI registered a case against the AICTE Chairman, Adviser and Deputy Director based on a complaint by the owner of an engineering college in Faridabad in Haryana.

It was alleged that the Regional Officer of AICTE had demanded money for processing an increase in the intake of seats.

The complainant brought this to the knowledge of the Chairman, Adviser and Deputy Director, but no action was taken by them.

The accused reportedly harassed the complainant and forced him to give money. They allegedly delayed the process of issue of Letter of Approval for starting the college in the academic year 2007-08, approval for extension of the institute for 2008-09, increase in seats for 2008-09, the approval of the extension of institute for 2008-09 and approval of intake in seats for 2009-10. It was done with the intention to harass and for ulterior considerations, the complainant said.

The agency has registered a case against all the accused under Sec. 120-B of the Indian Penal Code read with Sections 7 and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The residences and official premises of all the accused were being searched, the spokesperson said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page