Chandigarh: CBI court dismisses debt recovery officer’s discharge application in 2022 graft case

A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has dismissed the discharge application moved by debt recovery officer (RO) Sunil Kumar Tiwari, who had been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹70,000 from a Kaithal-based scrap dealer in April 2022.

The case against the accused, who worked at the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Sector 17, was registered on April 21, 2022, by the CBI under offences punishable under Sections 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The CBI laid a trap on the complaint of the scrap dealer from Kailram village in Kaithal, Haryana, and arrested Tiwari from the Sector 17 office.

According to the chargesheet, the scrap dealer, in his complaint to the CBI, said that he submitted a bid to purchase a plant and machinery in the DRT-I auction held in October 2021. He said he was the highest bidder and deposited ₹24.1 lakh within the stipulated time.

Later on December 21, 2021, when the complainant, along with an authorised officer of PNB, Mcleodganj, and two other persons, inspected the plant and the machinery, he found that some machinery was missing and he refused to take possession. He met the Tiwari and requested that either the remaining machinery be provided to him or the money equivalent to that missing machinery be refunded.

The complainant alleged that Tiwati in April 2022 demanded a bribe of ₹2 lakh from him to process the refund. The bribe, he said, was eventually fixed at ₹70,000.

He then approached the CBI and based on his statement, the agency laid a trap and nabbed the recovery officer while accepting the bribe.

The investigating agency submitted the chargesheet in June, 2022.

On Wednesday, the accused submitted a discharge application, claiming innocence and saying that the investigating agency had not found any evidence against him.

However, the CBI court dismissed the application and the case is now listed for September 18.