An Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer was arrested after he was caught taking a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a authorities worker in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul. He was arrested by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.
The officer, recognized as Ankit Tiwari, has been despatched to judicial custody until December 15. Following his arrest, searches had been carried out by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on the ED’s Madurai workplace. Ankit Tiwari’s residence was additionally searched by the officers.
Investigation into the case confirmed that extra officers from Madurai and Chennai had been concerned on this case, sources stated.
Ankit Tiwari had allegedly been blackmailing many individuals and was taking bribes price crores from them. He was additionally distributing the bribes to different ED officers, sources added.
Some paperwork have additionally been seized from him and extra ED officers on the Madurai and Chennai workplaces could also be searched in reference to the case.
BRIBE SOUGHT FROM EMPLOYEE
On October 29, Ankit Tiwari allegedly contacted a authorities worker from Dindigul in reference to a DVAC case in opposition to him, that had been closed. He advised the worker that the Prime Minister’s Workplace (PMO) had requested the ED to conduct an investigation into the matter.
Ankit Tiwari additionally requested the worker to look on the ED workplace in Madurai on October 30 for additional investigation. On the day the worker arrived on the workplace, the ED officer allegedly sought Rs 3 crore as bribe from him to shut the investigation.
He later advised the worker that he had spoken to senior officers and agreed to decrease the bribe to Rs 51 lakh.
ED OFFICER CAUGHT RED HANDED
On November 1, the federal government worker purportedly gave the primary instalment of Rs 20 lakh to the ED officer.
The ED officer later requested him to pay the complete quantity, saying the quantity needed to be shared amongst larger officers. He additionally threatened the federal government worker of extreme motion, if he did not pay up.
Suspecting Ankit Tiwari’s calls for, the federal government worker filed a grievance in opposition to him with DVAC’s Dindigul unit on November 30. Preliminary investigation revealed that Ankit misused his powers as an ED officer and a case was registered in opposition to him by the DVAC.
On Friday, December 1, Ankit Tiwari was caught red-handed whereas accepting the second instalment of Rs 20 lakh from the federal government worker.