Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested an officer of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a bribery case in Delhi. The assistant director-level officer, identified as Sandeep Singh, was allegedly caught red-handed while accepting a ₹20 lakh bribe from a Mumbai-based jeweler whom he was threatening to implicate in a false case. Sandeep Singh, currently posted at the ED Headquarters in Delhi's Investigation Unit-1, was trapped by the CBI's Anti-Corruption Unit, Mumbai, in New Delhi, along with the ₹20 lakh in cash that he had allegedly extorted from the jeweler in exchange for favors in an ongoing ED investigation.
Following his arrest by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken immediate cognizance of the incident and, adhering to its zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, has initiated criminal action against Sandeep Singh. An ECIR case has been registered against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). In addition to the PMLA case, action has also been initiated to place him under immediate suspension and for his repatriation to his parent department from the ED, which is the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the officials said.
According to officials. Sandeep Singh, who previously worked with the CBDT, was appointed as Assistant Director in the ED in May of last year.
On Thursday, a joint team from the CBI and ED conducted searches at Singh's office and residential premises to collect evidence. According to an official statement from the ED, this action followed the FIR and the subsequent arrest of Sandeep Singh by the CBI.
Sources revealed that Sandeep Singh was caught in a trap set by the Mumbai CBI Anti-Corruption Bureau in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar market. Following an ED raid in Mumbai, Singh allegedly attempted to extort bribes from the jeweler by threatening to implicate his son in the case. Based on the complaint, the CBI Anti-Corruption Bureau registered an FIR on August 7th, leading to the setup of the trap in New Delhi and Singh’s subsequent arrest.
The CBI ACB received a complaint on August 6th from Wadala-based jeweler Vipul Harish Thakkar against Shri Sandeep Singh, Assistant Director, ED HQ, Investigation Unit-1, New Delhi. According to officials, the verification conducted by investigators revealed that a criminal conspiracy was allegedly hatched by Sandeep Singh with unknown accomplices to obtain an undue advantage of ₹20 lakh from the complainant. This was purportedly in exchange for not arresting his son, Nihar Thakkar, in the matter being investigated by the ED.
During the investigation into the circumstances leading to Sandeep Singh’s arrest, it was found that the ED was conducting a money laundering investigation against certain entities based on multiple FIRs registered by the Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Bangalore police. A search operation was carried out and completed on August 4th, during which Sandeep Singh acted as the 'Search Warrant Authorized Officer' and conducted a search at the Mumbai residence of Vipul Thakkar, the owner of M/s V S Gold, a company suspected of involvement in money laundering. The search was uneventful and conducted according to due procedure.
ED officials clarified that Sandeep Singh was not the investigating officer in this ECIR; he was only assigned to conduct the search at the specified premises. However, Singh allegedly misrepresented himself as the investigating officer and accepted a bribe in exchange for favoring the accused, despite not being directly connected to the ongoing investigation.
Currently, Sandeep Singh is in the custody of the CBI ACB Mumbai. The agency would seek his transit remand after which he would be brought to Mumbai on Friday and will be produced before the special CBI court where his remand would be sought.
