Documents seized, raids still on

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI, MARCH 31. Armed with the information that he had received a ``huge bribe'' from a middleman barely a week ago, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today raided the premises of the Chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Mr. B.P. Verma.

Following extensive raids on his official and residential premises in the capital, Mr. Verma was put on ``compulsory wait'' and Mr. Sukumar Shankar, a member of the CBEC was appointed as the new Chairman of the Board.

It is perhaps for the first time in recent times that the CBI has acted to bring the topmost serving Customs and Excise official of the country under its scrutiny and slap a case against him.

Briefing mediapersons on the case involving the CBEC chief, the CBI spokesman, Mr. S.M. Khan, said that raids and searches which began in the morning were still going on. The accounts available from the raiding parties so far indicate that Mr. Verma had made substantial investments in properties in Delhi and elsewhere.

The anti-corruption branch of the Delhi unit of the CBI raided 15 places in Delhi and Chennai to unearth the linkages of Mr. Verma. The CBI claimed that several documents linked to his assets had been seized by the sleuths.

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