Industrialist surrenders in bribery case in Pune

Dinesh Bharuka, the industrialist booked in a bribery case, surrendered before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Pune, late on Sunday night.

The superintendent of police of anti-corruption bureau (ACB) of CBI (Pune), Vidya Kulkarni, said on Monday that Bharuka visited the CBI office, Akurdi, around 11 pm on Sunday.

The accused was produced on Monday afternoon before a court that remanded him in CBI custody till January 12.

The CBI lawyer, Ayub Pathan, requested special judge JD Kulkarni for Bharuka’s remand as the agency sleuths need to visit Jalna for probe. The court also extended the remand of the two other arrested till January 12.

Bharuka had managed to flee when the CBI laid a trap at Wakdewadi on Friday night. The investigation agency had arrested the director general of central excise and customs (intelligence), Pune regional unit, Krishna Mahadik, on Friday for allegedly accepting a bribe of over Rs1.09 crore from two Jalna-based industrialists. It also arrested one of the industrialists, Surrender Pitti, and booked Bharuka of M/s Om Sai Ram. Bharuka had managed to escape after a scuffle with the CBI. A CBI team was on the lookout for Bharuka.

There were apprehensions among some CBI officials that Bharuka could leave the country to evade arrest.

Regarding the scrutiny of 80 property document papers of Mahadik, Kulkarni said the initial investigations have revealed that most of the papers were in the name of his wife, son and mother. “It will take more time to verify these documents,” she said.

Eighty documents and uncovered unaccounted assets in Mahadik and his family members’ names were seized following a raid on his flat on Friday.