An Enforcement Officer of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) earlier this week after an investigation of a bribery case. The prime suspects of the investigation were accused of opening a false examination of a firm’s employees provident fund payments. The arrested Enforcement Officer of EPFO was posted at Jagadhari in Haryana and was facing an allegation of asking/accepting ₹1 lakh as bribe in a suit filed by a private individual.

According to EPFO officials, the Central Bureau of Investigation – the central body which is assigned for investigation into cases of corruption across India – discovered that the person who accepted the bribe of ₹1 lakh was identified as Ashok Gupta – who accepted the bribe amount from the petitioner while following orders of EPFO Enforcement Officer Anil Kumar. Enforcement Officer Anil Kumar was later apprehended when the CBI conducted searches at the premises of the prime suspects in the case.

The CBI had laid a trap to nab the identified suspects and Ashok Gupta was apprehended during the operation who led to EPFO Enforcement Officer Anil Kumar. Both prime suspects, arrested, were to be produced before the court of justice to undergo trial this week. The suspects – the EPFO Enforcement Officer & his aide were booked by the CBI on the basis of a complaint filed by a private individual claiming the EPFO at Jagadhari had started an inquiry against the complainant’s firm under the Civil Procedure Code long after all dues for the EPF amount for the period from November 2018 to July 2019 were deposited.

During the investigation, the EPFO had asked the complainant to contact another person for acquiring clearance in the enquiry and thus the complainant came across Ashok Gupta, who, allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹1 lakh on behalf of the Enforcement Officer of the EPFO to settle the enquiry.