Lt. Col. held as CBI busts Army postings racket

The CBI has busted a racket in fixing postings and transfers of civilian officials working with the Army. The agency has arrested Lieutenant Colonel Ranganathan Suvramani Moni and a middleman Gaurav Kohli in connection with the racket. Among those named in the FIR are two other Army officers — Purushottam, earlier posted in Kakinara, and S. Subhas. The name of DDG Personnel, Army HQ, Brigadier S.K. Grover, and others have also cropped up during investigations. Held with money Acting on a tip-off, the CBI laid a trap and arrested Lt. Col. Moni when ₹2 lakh was allegedly being delivered at his residence. The co-accused was also arrested. The duo were produced before a CBI court here which granted the agency four-day custody. According to sources, Lt. Col. Moni was posted in the Director General (Personnel) branch of the Military Engineering Services (MES). The branch looks after the posting of about 2500 class I civilian officers who work with the MES. According to army insiders, these civilian postings are much sought after because of the lucrative engineering contracts they handle. In the department under DG (Personnel) looking after the civilian postings, Brigadier Grover and Lt. Col. Moni are the only Army officers, rest being civilians. The CBI said it received information that Purushottam requested Kohli to pursue the posting of one D.S.R.K. Reddy, currently in Bengaluru, and Mr. Subhas, under transfer to Porbandar from Bengaluru, on payment of illegal gratification. Both wanted transfer to Secunderabed or Vizag. Kohli allegedly contacted Lt. Col. Moni. Meet with officers Through a Hyderabad-based hawala operator, with the help of Purushottam, Subhas allegedly delivered ₹5 lakh as bribe to Kohli, who held a meeting with Lt. Col. Moni and other senior officers at the Army headquarters. The CBI FIR says the Lt. Col. was in contact with Brig. Grover for the transfer of Subhas. During searches in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram, the agency had seized ₹10 lakh in cash and documents.