The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three persons, including an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer working as deputy director with the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in Chennai, in an alleged ₹ 1 crore bribery case.
Officers identified the arrested individuals as IRS officer Harish Kumar Tanwar, Delhi-based lawyer B Sharma and Sharma’s relative A Sharma. After verifying the allegations of a bribe demand and registering the case, the CBI laid a trap and arrested Tanwar, B Sharma and A Sharma.
The CBI continues to probe the case to ascertain whether others were involved in the alleged irregularities. The arrests were made after the advocate allegedly received an undue advantage of ₹ 20 lakh from the complainant as part payment of the demanded bribe of ₹ 1 crore, for and on behalf of the SFIO officer, CBI officers said on Thursday. The bank subsequently also sanctioned a term loan of ₹ 750 crore to a DHFL group firm. In return, the then Yes Bank managing director and chief executive officer Rana Kapoor received a kickback of ₹ 600 crore from DHFL in the form of a loan to his family firm, Do It Urban Ventures (India) Private Limited
During searches at the premises of the SFIO officer and the advocate, suspicious material related to the case was recovered, the officers said. Between April and June 2018, Yes Bank had invested ₹ 3,983 crore in short-term non-convertible debentures, or “Masala Bonds”, issued by DHFL, according to the CBI.
They were booked along with others for allegedly demanding a bribe of ₹ 1 crore from a person who was under an SFIO investigation in connection with an alleged cheating case involving Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL). Tanwar, a 2017-batch IRS officer, was the investigating officer in the case.
