CBI arrests Joint Director General of Foreign Trade and two others in bribery case

The CBI has arrested the Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, posted in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, for taking a bribe. Ramesh and two others have been arrested. N. Ramesh had taken a bribe of four lakh rupees for the disposal of pending files in the Directorate of Foreign Trade. All the accused were produced before the special court in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, from where all were sent to judicial custody.

CBI official said that N. Besides Ramesh, the other two arrested are Sribhashyam Venkata Ranganathan, section head of regional authority Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), and P. Seetha Rama Raju, managing director of Kiriti Indenting Pvt Ltd. The CBI had received information that Ramesh and Ranganathan were taking bribes through consultants for issuing new import-export certificates, renewal of certificates, and other licenses.

It is alleged that Ranganathan had also taken a bribe of Rs 50,000 from Raju. Raju told Ranganathan that seven files of Pattabhi Agro Foods Pvt Ltd were pending at the Visakhapatnam office of DGFT. He had also told that he would reach Visakhapatnam on Tuesday to deliver the bribe amount of Rs 4 lakh demanded by Ramesh to clear the files related to the companies of his clients. The CBI took action after getting the information.