CBI busts Army postings racket, arrests Lt. Col.

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) The CBI on Saturday said it has busted a transfer racket at the Army Headquarters here with the arrest of a Lt. Colonel and a middleman who took a bribe for the transfer of a Bengaluru-based Army officer to a choice posting.

Lt. Col. Ranganathan Suvramani Moni, posted in the Personnel Department at the Army Headquarters, was arrested along with middlemen Gaurav Kohli from Moni's residence in the national capital on Friday following a tip-off, an official said.

Separate CBI teams conducted raids on the premises of the accused and others at over 10 places in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Thiruvananthapuram and seized Rs 10 lakh and several incriminating documents.

The arrested persons were presented in a Special CBI court on Saturday, which sent them to four-day CBI custody.

The agency said both were arrested when Kohli visited the Lt. Col.'s house to deliver him Rs 2 lakh, a part of the Rs 5 lakh bribe, for the transfer of Army officer S. Subhas.

"With their arrest, the CBI has busted a transfer racket in the Army Headquarters here that involved manipulation of Army postings in lieu of illegal gratification," the CBI official said.

Besides Moni and Kohli, the CBI has registered an FIR against a Secunderabad-based Army officer Purushottam, S. Subhas and other unnamed persons for criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

"The CBI has conveyed that the arrest is due to personal improper practices of the officer. The CBI has indicated towards seeking of monetary gratification by the officer. The details are under investigation," Army sources said.

Moni was commissioned in the Army in August 1994 and was posted at the Army Headquarters since August 2015. He belongs to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.

"The Army Headquarters will wait for full investigation and cooperate in the probe," the sources added.