Guwahati, May 5: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Prayas Chakravorty, deputy general manager of Oil India Ltd (OIL), Duliajan, Assam, and Jyoti Kumar Singh, deputy general manager (sales & marketing) of United Drilling Tools Ltd, Noida, in a bribery case involving ₹7 lakh. The arrests followed a sting operation in which Chakravorty was caught red-handed with ₹3.34 lakh in cash and documents related to a gold purchase.
According to the CBI, the accused OIL official demanded 70 grams of gold ornaments from Singh in return for facilitating the award of a contract and clearing bills.
When Singh failed to procure the gold, he allegedly arranged ₹7 lakh in cash, provided by the managing director of United Drilling Tools Ltd. Out of this, Chakravorty is said to have bought gold coins worth ₹3.73 lakh from a shop in Noida and carried the remaining cash back home.
The CBI laid a trap soon after the transaction and recovered the remaining cash and gold purchase documents from Chakravorty. Both he and Singh were arrested and were produced before the Special CBI Court in Ghaziabad on May 5.
The agency has registered a case against four parties, the arrested OIL official, the managing director and DGM of the Noida-based private company, and unknown public servants. The charges involve alleged collusion to obtain bribes in exchange for facilitating work orders and bill clearances, resulting in a wrongful gain to the accused and loss to the public exchequer.
CBI also conducted searches at multiple locations in Delhi, Noida, Dibrugarh, and Tinsukia, leading to the recovery of gold jewellery obtained as bribes, over ₹30 lakh in cash from private persons, mobile devices and incriminating documents.
The case is still under investigation, with further arrests and evidence recovery likely.
