The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday carried out searches at seven locations in Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh and recovered Rs 67 lakh, including Rs 2 lakh from the premises of then regional manager of NHAI, in connection with a case it is probing.A CBI spokesperson said here that the agency sleuths carried out searches at seven places in Jammu, Chandigarh and Ropar which led to the recovery of incriminating documents, hard disks and other digital evidence.The official said that cash worth more than Rs 65 lakh was recovered from the premises of propreitor of Rakesh Kumar Chaudhary, while cash worth Rs 2 lakh was recovered from the premises of Hem Raj, the then regional officer of NHAI.The CBI action came in connection with a case it had registered against Hem Raj, who was posted at NHAI's Jammu office, a private firm and its proprietor and unknown others on the basis of a preliminary enquiry conducted by the CBI.
It was alleged that Rakesh Kumar Chaudhary had hatched a conspiracy with the officials of the regional office of NHAI in Jammu to get the work order in a tender dated January 10, 2018, for improvement and routine maintenance of the Lakhanpur-Jammu section for Rs 9.34 crore, in violation of the terms and conditions of the said tender.The FIR alleged that the then regional officer, Hem Raj, had entered into a conspiracy with the said proprietor and favoured the firm in awarding of the said tender.The FIR further said that the experience certificates submitted by the said firm along with the bid did not mention whether the road constructed from Atholi to Palali section in Kishtwar district was a two or four-lane highway.It was also alleged that the fact was overlooked while processing the bid of the firm. Moreover, experience certificates submitted by the said firm through its proprietor were allegedly found to be fake and forged.