CBI arrests 2 from Balangir in Raj for posing as officials & accepting Rs 18L bribe

Bhubaneswar: Two men from Balangir district were arrested by CBI on Monday in Jaipur, Rajasthan, for their alleged roles in a high-profile impersonation and bribery case, the central agency said on Tuesday.

The accused were identified as Ajit Kumar Patra, 51, and Minku Lal Jain, 46.CBI officers said that Patra and Jain were allegedly involved in impersonating high-ranking officials from various govt departments, ministries, enforcement agencies and the judiciary in Delhi and Rajasthan.They were arrested while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 18 lakh from a company’s CEO in Jaipur, under the guise of preventing his arrest in a GST raid case.

“The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) in Jaipur conducted a raid on Nov 4 on the premises of Vinod Parihar, CEO of a private company. To avoid arrest, Parihar reportedly reached out to Patra and Jain, who demanded Rs 18 lakh to resolve the issue with unidentified DGGI officials in Jaipur,” a CBI officer said.On Monday, CBI arrested Patra and Jain while they were receiving the bribe from one Jagjit Singh Gill.

Subsequent searches of properties associated with Patra and Jain in Delhi, Rajasthan and Odisha uncovered Rs 3.7 crore in cash, about 1 kg of gold jewellery, 26 property documents in Patra’s name and those of his relatives, and four luxury vehicles.Investigation also uncovered that the accused frequently claimed close connections with senior govt officials, employing name-dropping tactics to intimidate and manipulate their targets. They reportedly enjoyed unwarranted VIP privileges, including stays in official residences and access to restricted high-security zones at public events and religious gatherings in Delhi, by falsely posing as officials from central agencies and enforcement bodies.