The CBI on Thursday arrested two officials of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Puducherry in a bribery case wherein the accused officials froze the bank account of the complainant and sought a bribe to order de-freezing of the account.
The arrested duo include Social Security Officer Mohit Jha and Deputy Director Paras Gregory Khalkho, both working in ESIC. They were remanded to judicial custody till August 12 by a competent court.
A case was registered against them on a complaint from D Joshua Ananthkumar.
“It was alleged that the ESIC had issued recovery notice to complainant’s company for pending dues since January, 2020 amounting to Rs 8,51, 252 along with interest,†the CBI said.
It was further alleged that during July this year, the accused contacted the bank and asked them not to allow operations in the said account. The complainant then met the accused who demanded a bribe of Rs 25,000 for himself and also in the name of the Deputy Director for de-freezing the bank account till the disposal of the matter in the court.
The CBI laid a trap and caught the accused while demanding and accepting the bribe amount of Rs 25,000 from the complainant.
Searches were conducted at two places in the premises of the accused at Puducherry which led to recovery of some documents, it added.
