CBI arrests Gujarat-cadre IAS officer in arms licence bribery case

New Delhi, July 13: The CBI arrested Gujarat-cadre IAS officer K Rajesh on Wednesday for alleged bribery in sanctioning weapon licences to ineligible people, officials said.

Rajesh, a 2011-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was called to the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) Ahmedabad office for questioning, but he allegedly did not cooperate and was taken into custody, they added.

It is alleged that when he was the collector of Surendranagar district, Rajesh had taken bribes for land deals and sanctioning weapon licences to ineligible people, the officials said. In May, the agency had arrested Mohammad Rafiq Menon, who allegedly used to work as a conduit for the officer.

In addition to granting arms licences to ineligible people, it is also alleged that Rakesh had taken bribes for the allotment of government land and regularisation of encroached government land in the name of ineligible beneficiaries.

"A preliminary enquiry was earlier registered on a request of the Gujarat government in the matter. The instant case is the outcome of the PE," the CBI had said after the registration of the case.

After lodging the case, the agency had conducted searches at the premises of the accused in Gandhinagar and Surat (in Gujarat) and Rajahmundry (in Andhra Pradesh), which led to the recovery of incriminating documentary and digital evidence, it had said.