Sandeep Singh Yadav, an assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of ₹20 lakh from a Mumbai-based jeweller.
The accused was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe in the national capital, and was arrested by the Mumbai unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Vipul Thakkar, who runs a bullion company, had approached the CBI with his complaint against Singh and another ED officer, both posted in Unit-1 of the agency, and the CBI found the allegations prima facie correct during its verification exercise.
On August 4, as part of an operation based on multiple FIRs registered by police in Delhi, Uttarakhand and Bengaluru, the ED conducted searches at the premises of Vipul Thakkar.
Yadav, who was acting as the “Search Warrant Authorised Officer”, had searched the residence of Thakkar, whose company was suspected of being involved in money laundering.
Later, Singh allegedly presented himself as the investigating officer in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case and demanded a bribe of ₹25 lakh from Thakkar for not arresting his son in the case. During negotiations, the amount was reduced to ₹20 lakh.
“The verification of the complaint in the presence of independent witnesses, prima facie revealed a criminal conspiracy hatched by Sandeep Singh, Assistant Director, Enforcement Directorate HQ, New Delhi with unknown others to obtain undue advantage from complainant of ₹20 lakh by himself and through other person from the complainant, Vipul Thakkar for not arresting his son Nihar Thakkar in the matter being investigated by the ED,” CBI FIR said.
Following the CBI action, the ED also registered a PMLA case against Singh.
Action has also been initiated to place the officer under immediate suspension and for his repatriation to his parent department.