Radia tapes case: CBI registers fresh preliminary enquiry

Special Arrangement The former corporate lobbyist, Niira Radia, leaving the Patiala House Courts in New Delhi in this May 2013 file picture. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday registered a fresh Preliminary Enquiry (PE) related to the Radia tapes against a senior Income Tax officer who was trying to get a transfer by allegedly offering bribes to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) officers.

The sources said a senior IT officer and an alleged middleman having links with the officer and others have been named in the PE as accused.

“This is to verify the allegations that the said officer while posted in Income Tax Appellate Tribunal was trying to get transferred to Delhi by allegedly paying illegal gratification in CBDT,” CBI sources said.

The CBI has so far registered 13 PEs on the direction of the Supreme Court which had asked to probe into the issues related to intercepted phone calls of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with politicians, corporate top shots, bureaucrats and businessmen. It has been asked to file a status report to the Supreme Court within two months.

It is also looking into alleged irregularities in the allotment of iron ore mines at Ankua, Singhbhum district of Jharkhand to Tata steel. Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and unknown officials of the Jharkhand government have been named as accused.

Besides this, a PE has been registered against the then Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) V. K. Sibal, RIL and other unknown persons in connection with alleged favours shown by the DGH to RIL and the quid-pro-quo.

While an enquiry is also being conducted against working of touts and middlemen and kickbacks in the aviation sector, another PE was registered against Unitech for alleged market manipulation and hammering of stocks.

A PE into Radia’s conversations pertaining to alleged discrepancy in subscriber data base declared by Reliance Communications to BSE and TRAI has also been registered.

Many Corporate Houses had welcomed the CBI probe into the case and hoped that all controversies would be put to rest after the agency’s time-bound probe was completed.

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