New Delhi:
A Delhi court has sent two top officers of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), arrested in connection with corruption charges, to CBI custody for five days.
Additional Sessions Judge O P Saini sent the NHAI Chief General Manager S K Nirmal and General Manager Nitin Jain, who were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly favouring a construction company, to CBI custody till May 31 for interrogation.
The Managing Director of Oriental Structure Pvt Ltd K S Bakshi and one of his employees S K Dikshit were also allowed to be quizzed in custody by the CBI.
The probe agency has alleged that the officers entered into a criminal conspiracy with the Managing Director of the private firm and favoured his company in bagging contracts for a project in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
It has also been alleged that the officers of NHAI gave key confidential, strategic and vital information to the company during the process of tender which in turn helped it gain greater financial benefits.
The CBI had carried out extensive searches at eight places in the national capital and Jaipur during which they claimed to have recovered Rs 48 lakh from Jain's house and another Rs 52 lakh from his bank locker besides 100 grams of gold.
It also claimed to have recovered Rs 46 lakh from Nirmal's house besides 360 grams of gold and five kilograms of silver from his locker.
The modus operandi of NHAI officials was allegedly to eliminate all potential contenders on one pretext or the other to favour a particular company and ensure huge financial gains to it.