In a major strike against corruption inside premier economic intelligence establishments, the Central Bureau of Investigation has taken into custody a deputy director level officer from the Serious Fraud Investigation Office in connection with an alleged 1 crore rupee bribery scheme. The illegal gratification was reportedly demanded to extend undue relief to a complainant in the high-profile Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited fraud case. Along with the senior official, a practising advocate based in Delhi and his relative have also been apprehended under anti-corruption statutes following an intricately planned trap operation.
Extortion of 1 Crore Rupees in Exchange for Case Relief
The bribery scandal originated directly from an active SFIO investigation being handled out of Chennai concerning the massive financial irregularites at DHFL. During the course of these proceedings, the accused public servant allegedly sought an extortionate sum of 1 crore rupees in exchange for diluting charges and extending illicit advantages to the complainant. Once formal representations were verified and an FIR was registered against the SFIO officer, the lawyer, and their associates, the central investigative team coordinated an undercover operation to capture the conspirators in the act of accepting money.
Trap Sprung Following the Exchange of 20 Lakh Rupees
After completing the procedural scrutiny of the primary complaint and lodging the formal criminal case, enforcement sleuths positioned themselves strategically around the designated delivery location. In accordance with the illicit arrangement, the Delhi-based lawyer accepted the first installment of 20 lakh rupees from the complainant on behalf of the Chennai-based SFIO official. The moment the physical handover of this initial tranche concluded, the surveillance unit moved in swiftly, detaining the advocate, his accomplice relative, and subsequently the supervisory SFIO officer involved in negotiating the deal.
Identity and Designations of the Apprehended Individuals
Official releases detailing the enforcement drive have formally identified the trio arrested during the anti-corruption sweep. The central figure among the suspects is Harish Kumar Tanwar, who serves as a deputy director with the SFIO in Chennai and belongs to the 2017 batch of the Indian Revenue Service. The legal intermediary implicated in facilitating the corrupt conduit has been identified as Bharat Sharma, a legal practitioner from Delhi. The third individual taken into custody is Aryan Sharma, who has been established as a relative of advocate Bharat Sharma.
Search Operations Yield Critical Incriminating Material
Following the formal detentions, search parties expanded their operations to execute targeted raids across residential and professional premises connected to the IRS officer and the lawyer. According to official disclosures, the intensive cordon-and-search procedures led to the recovery of substantial incriminating documentation and evidence bearing direct relevance to the illicit transaction. The central agency continues to examine the seized records to map out the entire communication trail and determine whether additional individuals were linked to the extortion bid.
