Durgapur, Feb 13: 
A six member CBI team nabbed a senior manager with the SAIL’s Durgapur Steel Plant while the later was receiving bribe allegedly from a Jharkhand based transporter inside the plant last evening. The CBI officials headed by a DSP had been to the plant premises acting on a tip-off from the transporters that a section of plant managers were claiming cash against any sort of execution of work orders. Only on last 28 December another CBI team from Kolkata had raided the plant’s marketing department under suspicion of some financial irregularities.

The CBI officials arrested Mr Shyamalendu Bakshi, a senior manager with the materials recovery department of the plant last evening when he allegedly was receiving a bribe of rupees two thousand from one Mr. J. P. Jaiswal, a transporter with a Jharkhand based company. The Managing Director, DSP, Dr SK Bhattacharya told The Statesman, ‘the CBI officials raided the plant and arrested one official last evening. But they did not divulge any details to us.’ The police said that it was Mr. Jaiswal who had complained with the CBI that the official was claiming cash for release of certain consignments. Mr. Bakshi was produced before the special court, Durgapur today. The court allowed fifteen days remand custody for him. The CBI officials had reached Kunustoria guest house of the Eastern Coalfields Limited near Raniganj on Wednesday evening to help crack down at DSP yesterday. They got inside the DSP last afternoon and were waiting for a convenient time. Two of the intelligence officials accompanied Mr. Jaiswal to catch the manager in red hand while receiving the sum. The envelope containing the sum was also seized. The Executive Director of the plant rushed the plant soon after receiving the information over cell phone. But the intelligence officials did not entertain the plant executives. 

A CBI team had interrogated few marketing department officials of the DSP and examined papers related to selling of pig iron to a private company. A number of consignments to that company allegedly were made with significant lower price, the CBI had received complaints. The plant had to incur a loss of Rs 61 lakh out of the trades with such companies. The CBI team comprising a senior superintendent had arrived from Kolkata to investigate the matter. The DSP had constituted a Price Committee some five months ago to sort out discrepancies centering the sell of pig iron in the plant. The committee comprised Executive Director (Finance), GM (Services), Sr. Manager (Central Marketing Organisation) and the DGM (Marketing), Mr. B. R. Biswas. The company sold 4000 tones of pig iron to that company at the rate of Rs 11000 per ton instead of Rs 12400 per ton, the prevailing market rate and the CBI was complained of the matter.