CBI books suspended NIA SP, inspector on graft charge

The case has been instituted on a complaint from the NIA, alleging that they extorted ₹10 lakh from one person, ₹20 lakh from another and ₹30 lakh from the third victim between May 2022 to August 2022, when Mr. Garg and Mr. Khan were posted with the branch office in Imphal.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against suspended National Investigation Agency (NIA) Superintendent of Police Vishal Garg and Inspector Mohammed Rajib Khan for allegedly extorting money from three Manipur residents on the threat of implicating them in a case registered against banned terror outfits.

The case has been instituted on a complaint from the NIA, alleging that they extorted ₹10 lakh from one person, ₹20 lakh from another and ₹30 lakh from the third victim between May 2022 to August 2022, when Mr. Garg and Mr. Khan were posted with the branch office in Imphal.

According to the NIA, the agency initially received information from sources that the accused officials were collecting huge amounts of money from the residents of Manipur by threatening them to frame them in the cases being probed by the agency. Subsequently, an internal inquiry was launched.

The team conducting the inquiry found that the NIA had registered a case on March 9, 2022, alleging that the members of terror outfits such as the Kangleipak Communist Party, the United Liberation Front, and the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak, which are proscribed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, were raising funds in Manipur to fund their activities.

The case had been assigned to Inspector Tushar Bishat. Mr. Garg, who headed the branch and was the case’s first supervisory officer, directed Mr. Khan to assist the probe. It is alleged that as part of the modus operandi, certain businessmen/professionals were called for examination, mostly without any legal notice. They were told that they could be arraigned in the case.

Mr. Khan allegedly then offered to get the issue settled in lieu of money, negotiated the amount and collected them on Mr. Garg’s behalf, as alleged.

The Union Home Ministry had earlier suspended Mr. Garg based on the internal inquiry findings. The official, who was part of the team that had probed the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case, was earlier suspended along with two others in 2019 after being accused of having threatened a businessman in a bid to extort ₹2 crore from him.