The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked National Investigation Agency (NIA) Superintendent of Police (SP) Vishal Garg and inspector Rajeeb Khan for extorting Rs 60 lakh from three residents in Imphal.
The officers were summoning people on the pretext of questioning them and allegedly extorting money from them after threatening to implicate them in a false case.
The CBI registered FIR against the two officials after receiving a complaint, a copy of which is now part of the FIR, from Sudhanshu Shekhar Shukla, Deputy Superintendent, admin, NIA Headquarters, New Delhi.
The CBI has registered the FIR under IPC Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 388 (extortion) and several sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act after they received a complaint from Deputy Superintendent (Admin in NIA) Sudhanshu Shekhar Shukla.
According to sources, the CBI searched the premises of a suspended NIA SP Vishal Garg and Inspector Rajib Khan, both posted in Imphal, for allegedly collecting huge amounts of money from Manipur residents by threatening to falsely implicate them in NIA cases.
The agency conducted searches at three locations, including at the residences of Garg in Faridabad in Haryana and Khan in Imphal in Manipur, and seized ''incriminating'' records. The CBI will also issue notices to the people who were allegedly forced to pay money to these officers, the sources added.
The CBI took over the probe in the case following a reference from anti-terror agency NIA that had conducted an internal investigation against these officers and concluded that Khan was allegedly collecting money on behalf of Garg.
According to the complainant report, the NIA's internal investigation showed that Garg was supervising a probe in an FIR registered on March 9, 2022 over allegations that members of Manipur’s underground outfits. The NIA had assigned the case to Inspector Tushar Bisht.
The inquiry has revealed that through this modus operandi, Khan collected Rs 10 lakh cash from one Inaocha Takhellambam alias Naoba, Rs 20 lakh cash from one N Momon Singh, Rs 30 lakh cash from one Laishram Hemanta Singh, all residents of Imphal between May and August 2022 at the instance of Garg.
The NIA, in its complaint to the CBI, said that inquiry has also found a possibility of threatening other people and witnesses and extortion of huge amounts of money from them.
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