Army officers Lieutenant Colonel Rahul Pawar and Subedar Major Pardeep Kumar, and two contractors, all arrested in a bribery case, were sent to judicial custody for 14 days on Thursday. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested them from Ambala Cantonment on March 20 and they were in CBI custody for five days.
The four accused were produced before the court of Special CBI Judge Sudhir Parmar in Panchkula. Lt Col Pawar is a senior barracks store officer while Subedar Major Kumar is attached with the Military Engineering Service (MES) in the Cantonment. The two others were identified as Dinesh Kumar of Kurukshetra and Pritpal Singh of Ambala.
The accused were arrested after the Army officers allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 22.48 lakh from the contractors, the CBI informed the court, sources said.
The CBI had allegedly recovered Rs 32.5 lakh, along with incriminating documents, from Lt Col Pawar’s house in Ambala, and Rs 16 lakh from the houses of the private contractors.
According to the CBI, a case was registered against the two officers for demanding and accepting bribe. They allegedly took the bribe against the assurance that most tenders or orders from Ambala Cantonment would be awarded to the two contractors.