DRI chief, driver in the dock for taking bribe

CHENNAI: Additional Director-General (ADGP) of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence C Rajan was arrested and booked on charges of corruption, after the high-profile officer and his driver were ‘trapped’ by sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Central Bureau of Investigation with a graft amount of `2 lakh near the GPRA Quarters in Nungambakkam on Tuesday.The CBI operation came following a complaint lodged by F Ubaidullah of Pudupet with the ACB on March 5 on behalf of his friend Joseph, a licensed importer of mobile phones. “Joseph runs a shop in Perambur, where he sells mobile phones imported from Hong Kong and China,” a top CBI official told Express.The Case FileTracing the sequence of events leading to the sensational arrests, the officer said DRI officials conducted a search of Joseph’s shop two years ago and seized two cheque books in the name of Superking Myatzin. “Myatzin is a close relative of the mobile phone importer and is settled in Myanmar. His two NRI accounts in Kotak Mahindra Bank on 2nd Line Beach were frozen subsequently,” he said adding that a case under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (COFEPOSA) was registered for alleged duty evasion.    Joseph approached Ubaidullah, a conduit of DRI chief C Rajan, and requested him to do the needful for de-freezing the two bank accounts of his relative. “It appears that the DRI official has many agents and Ubaidullah was one of them,” the CBI officer said.Demand BribeUbaidullah soon met Rajan with a request to defreeze the accounts, when the DRI chief demanded rs 10 lakh as illegal gratification for desisting from taking any action against Myatzin under COFEPOSA and to defreeze the bank accounts. “After much pleading that the importer would not be able to pay the huge amount, it was reduced to Rs 8 lakh,” the officer said. “Rajan demanded Rs 2 lakh as first instalment and an iPad,” he added.On March 3, when Ubaidullah went to Rajan’s office in T Nagar, the ADGP directed him to contact his driver Murugesan and hand over the cash and iPad to him. “He also told the complainant not to contact him anymore and deal with the driver instead.”On contacting Murugesan on Monday, the driver instructed him on the mode of payment to be made the next day. “The driver asked Ubaidullah not to bring the amount in small currency, but only in notes of Rs 1,000 denomination. The currency bundles should be wrapped well, so that the notes were not visible, and placed in an Adyar Ananda Bhavan sweet box and bag,” the senior CBI officer said.Delivery of Cash, iPadOn Tuesday, Ubaidullah arrived with the ‘sweet bag’ at the entrance of Rajan’s GPRA Quarters on Haddows Road in Nungambakkam around 8.30 am, as instructed by Murugesan. “The driver, however, claimed that the DRI chief had guests at home and asked him to come to his office at 4.30 pm,” he said.On complying, Ubaidullah was again told that the boss was busy and asked to come to the Roman Catholic Church on Cathedral Road in Mylapore at 6 pm. “It appears that the venue was chosen because of the sparse crowd there,” the officer said. The driver was waiting at the church after dropping Rajan’s wife inside the premises, when Ubaidullah handed over the bag to him and left. However, the DRI chief was not present on the scene.After Rajan’s wife returned from the church and got into the car, a waiting team of CBI sleuths followed the vehicle to his residence in Nungambakkam and later to his office at T Nagar. After Rajan got into the car and arrived at his residence, the ACB team arrested him and seized the cash and the iPad. A ‘phenolphthalein test’ conducted subsequently proved positive, sources said.Raids at House, officeSubsequently, the CBI team conducted a search-and-seize operation at the residence and office of Rajan and Murugesan, a resident of Anna Nagar. The house of Peel Jamal, believed to be another conduit of Rajan, was also searched. The search yielded incriminating documents, including a safety locker maintained by Rajan, the CBI officer said. Bank balances amounting to Rs 32 lakh and fixed deposit receipts (FDR) to the tune of Rs 11 lakh were frozen. Rajan and Murugesan were arrested and produced before a CBI court, which remanded them in judicial custody till March 21.Talking about the operation, the senior CBI official said the arrest was carried out after conducting thorough verification of the complaint. “The accused person is a very senior officer and, hence, we continuously verified with the driver Murugesan twice or thrice before executing the arrest,” he stated.Rajan has been charged under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) r/w Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Prior to taking over as DRI chief about two years ago, Rajan, a native of Thoothukudi district, served as Customs Commissioner at the airport and the Chennai Port for six years.