CBI arrests senior excise official

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday arrested Central Excise Commissioner P K Ajwani in connection with a disproportionate assets case.

Ajwani was held after he was discharged from Jaslok Hospital in south Mumbai, where he was admitted three days ago following chest pain.

Earlier in the day, the CBI searched two lockers of Ajwani in the Napean Sea road branches of the Union Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra and recovered valuables and cash worth around Rs 42 lakh, sources said.

This is in addition to the recovery of cash and assets worth over Rs 5 crore in the past three days in a series of raids at the residences of Ajwani and his friends.

The CBI started pursuing the case after a businessman from Thane lodged a complaint that the official had demanded a bribe of Rs 90 lakh to hush up an alleged excise irregularities case pending against his firm.

Ajwani had already been paid Rs 60 lakh but he demanded Rs 90 lakh more, the businessman alleged.

He will be produced before a special CBI court, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the CBI is on the lookout for Ajwani's daughter Lehar, who is believed to have knowledge of her father's money matters, the sources said.