Two DGFT officials, one other arrested by CBI in bribery case

Ramesh and Ranganathan were allegedly demanding and collecting large sums of money in bribes from consultants for issuing new Import Export Certificates.

New Delhi: Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, Visakhapatnam B.N. Ramesh and two others were arrested in connection with a bribery case, the CNI Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Monday.

The other two arrested were identified as Sreebhashyam Venkata Ranganathan, the section head working in the office of Jt Director, and P. Sitarama Raju, the Managing Director of a private company based in Hyderabad, A case was registered against the three following a complaint.

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Ramesh and Ranganathan were allegedly demanding and collecting large sums of money in bribes from consultants for issuing new Import Export Certificates, as well as for renewals and other related licenses through intermediaries.

The CBI laid a trap to apprehend the accused. Ramesh was caught while demanding and collecting a bribe of Rs 4 lakh, while Ranganathan was apprehended for demanding and collecting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from Sitarama Raju, the Managing Director of Kireeti Indenting & Exim Services Pvt. Ltd. Raju was also taken into custody.

Searches were conducted at the premises of the accused, including in Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, leading to the recovery of incriminating documents. All the accused were produced before the Court of Principal Special Judge for CBI Cases in Visakhapatnam and were sent to judicial custody till September 18.