Senior GAIL exec arrested, accused of taking bribes in petrochemicals sale

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a senior executive of state-owned GAIL for allegedly taking bribes to offer discounts in the sale of petrochemicals.

E S Ranganathan, Director (Marketing) was “indulging into corrupt and illegal activities in conspiracy with other accused who were acting as his middleman, by obtaining bribe from the private companies buying petrochemical products marketed by the GAIL,” the CBI has said.

According to the CBI, Ranganathan had demanded a bribe of Rs 15 lakh for issuing a discount order in favour of certain companies.

The investigative agency said it had found Rs 1.29 crore in cash, gold jewellery and other valuables searches at places linked with Ranganathan. A statement said places in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Panchkula and Karnal were searched as part of the probe.

Ranganathan is the sixth person to be arrested in this case. On Saturday, the CBI said that it recovered approximately Rs 84 lakh during searches which included recovery of Rs 75 lakh from a Gurgaon-based private person.

The other five accused individuals in the case are Pawan Gaur (a private person), Rajesh Kumar (director of Rishabh Polychem, Delhi), N Ramakrishnan Nair (a Gurgaon resident), Saurabh Gupta (associated with United Polymer Industries, Panchkula), and Aditya Bansal (associated with Bansal Agencies, Karnal). United Polymer Industries and Bansal Agencies have also been named in the CBI’s First Information Report.

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