Maharashtra chief post-master general held on graft charges

The chief post-master general of Maharashtra and Goa has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2 crore for issuing a no objection certificate for construction of a post office in neighbouring Thane district.

Manjit Singh Bali, a 1978 batch officer of the Indian Postal Services, was caught on Wednesday by the sleuths of the Anti Corruption Bureau of the CBI while allegedly accepting the bribe amount.

The CBI has recovered a sum of Rs 34 lakh, US$ 10,722, 3050 UK Pounds and 3470 Euro from his South Mumbai residence. Bali, who is one of the senior-most officers in the postal department across the country, had demanded the bribe to issue a NOC for the development of land at Mira-Bhayendar in Thane district.

"The 2000 sq mt land is owned by a private builder who had agreed to allot 25 per cent of the land for the construction of a post office. This, however, required a NOC from the postal department," said CBI Joint Director (Western Region) Rishiraj Singh. A father-son duo, who own a consultancy firm in South Mumbai, have also been arrested along with Bali.

Arun Dalmiya and Harsh Dalmiya were the middlemen who were dealing with Bali and the complainant. According to CBI, the complainant Rita Shah, an ex-corporator of Mira Bhayendar, had approached Bali in January this year, requesting him to expedite the issuance of NOC for the construction of a post office in the area.

"A few days later, Harsh contacted Shah and asked her to meet him at his office in South Mumbai. When Shah went to his office, Harsh demanded Rs two crore from her, of which Rs 1.50 crore was for Bali," Singh said.

Shah then approached the ACB and lodged a complaint. "On Wednesday, Shah met Harsh and Arun and handed over the money to them, who in turn met Bali at Colaba in South Mumbai and gave him the money," the CBI official said.

The CBI is also conducting searches at Bali's residence in Mumbai, Faridabad and New Delhi. "We have intimidated the Enforcement Directorate regarding the huge amount of foreign currency recovered from Bali's residence," Singh said.