The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths have arrested an additional legal adviser and in-charge of the branch secretariat (Bengaluru), department of legal affairs, Union Ministry of Law and Justice, and a Bengaluru advocate in a bribery case.
According to a release from CBI, the accused were allegedly involved in collecting bribes from advocates for facilitating their appointment/registration as a notary in different states, including Karnataka.
Though the CBI release did not name the accused, the FIR identified the additional legal adviser (ALA) as TK Malik and the advocate as Vani GK. The agency said a case was registered against the ALA, advocate, and others on charges that the former demanded Rs 50,000 per lawyer and asked one of the accused to deliver part of the bribe amount.
The probe agency laid a trap and caught the ALA with bribe money of Rs 25,000. In addition to that, Rs 4,32,800 cash was recovered from the accused. Searches were conducted in Bengaluru and Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), which led to the recovery of Rs 34 lakh from the suspect’s premises along with incriminating documents and digital devices.