MoEF's deputy director, middleman remanded to CBI custody

NEW DELHI: An environment ministry official, arrested by the CBI along with his suspected conduit allegedly for accepting a bribe of Rs 7 lakh for pushing clearance for a cement firm, was remanded today in CBI custody for four days by a Delhi court.

Deputy Director Neeraj Kumar Khatri of the Ministry of Environment and Forest and alleged middleman Chinmaya Shri Chandan were arrested earlier today by the CBI and were produced before the court, which handed them over to the CBI for custodial interrogation. The agency had sought the two in its custody for five days.

Special CBI Judge V K Gupta remanded both of them to CBI custody till January 21 saying their custodial interrogation was required in the case.

"Since the custodial interrogation of the accused persons is required, police custody remand is allowed till January 21," the judge said.

During the hearing, the CBI said their interrogation was required "to recover incriminating documents and to unfold the wider conspiracy and also to find out their nexus with other officials in the Ministry of Environment and Forest."

The agency also said it searched Khatri's residential premises at Rohtak and Gurgaon and also his office here and recovered an amount of Rs one crore aned several incriminating documents during the searches.

Khatri was arrested while allegedly accepting the bribe from Chandan for arranging mining clearance for a Odisha based-firm Chariot Group, the CBI said.

The agency has booked the accused under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC.

The CBI has alleged that 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, it said.