E-Paper
Punjab: CPWD XEN held for taking ₹2.5 lakh bribe to clear IIM-Amritsar project bills
CBI arrested executive engineer Nitish Kumar after a complaint from a private construction firm alleging commission demand on bills.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested an executive engineer (XEN) of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹2.5 lakh to clear pending bills related to the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Amritsar, project, officials said on Saturday.
The accused, Nitish Kumar, served as the XEN-cum-drawing and disbursing officer (DDO) in Amritsar. Following his arrest on February 10, he was remanded to judicial custody and is currently behind bars in Mohali.
The action followed a complaint filed on February 4 by Navjot Saini, the Punjab region administration head for Param Infra Pvt. Ltd. The company had been awarded a construction contract worth about ₹72 crore in April 2025 for work on the IIM-Amritsar campus. According to the FIR at the CBI police station in Chandigarh, Nitish Kumar allegedly demanded a commission of 0.10% on every running and final bill. This demand reportedly applied to future invoices as well as payments that had already been released.
CBI sub-inspector Manish Kaushik, who led the verification process, conducted a discreet probe after the complaint was filed. Recorded conversations between the complainant and the officer reportedly confirmed that Nitish Kumar insisted on a bribe of 10 paise per rupee (0.10%) on running bills totalling about ₹25 crore. Despite the complainant’s attempts to negotiate a lower percentage, Kumar allegedly refused to budge, reiterating his demand for the fixed cut to process the reimbursements.
As per the terms of the contract, the firm submits running bills to the CPWD after completing specific project phases. These bills require the final approval of the XEN before funds are released. Kumar was caught red-handed at his Amritsar office during a trap laid by the CBI’s anti-corruption branch after he allegedly threatened to withhold or indefinitely delay payments unless the bribe was paid.
