CBI arrests arms dealer Abhishek Verma and wife

Bangalore, Jun 9: The Central Bureau of Investigation (

) on Friday arrested arms dealer Abhishek Verma and his Romanian wife, Anca Neascu, under section 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act. The couple had allegedly took USD 5,30,000 from Rheinmetall Air Defence (RAD) AG, a

defence equipment supplier company, promising that he would use his influence to stop proceedings initiated by the Indian government to blacklist it following the Ordnance Factories Board

.

The CBI summoned Verma and his wife for interrogation in connection to a case accusing them of receiving the amount on Jan 31, 2011, through Ganton Limited, one of Verma's front companies based in the US. The payment was shown to have been made for 'consultancy services'.

Sleuths seized documents related to the alleged financial transactions through search operations and based on the findings, sought an explanation from Verma and his wife. The agency arrested the couple after they failed to give convincing explanation. They would be produced in a special CBI court on Saturday.

The CBI also questioned some RAD officials and alleged associates of Verma.

Abhishek Verma is also accused in the naval war room leak case of 2005.

OneIndia News