CBI books EPFO official in bribery case

On March 12, the agency received a written complaint from the complainant, a former driver. The complainant told the CBI that, as an EPF beneficiary, he has an EPF account and wanted to close it to obtain the total outstanding claim amount of around ₹78,000 since he needs the money

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday registered a case against an EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) officer for allegedly seeking a bribe to approve an EPF beneficiary’s application to withdraw a claim of ₹78,000 from his account.

The complainant had allegedly visited the office on March 12 and met the accused official, who demanded a bribe of ₹2,000 to ensure that his claim request got passed.

The accused EPFO officer is attached to EPFO’s Regional Office in Pune and was booked under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (demand of undue advantage/attempt to obtain undue advantage), CBI sources said.

On March 12, the agency received a written complaint from the complainant, a former driver. The complainant told the CBI that, as an EPF beneficiary, he has an EPF account and wanted to close it to obtain the total outstanding claim amount of around ₹78,000 since he needs the money.

Accordingly, he submitted the applications online last December and again a month later, but his claims were rejected for various reasons. As the claim was rejected, the complainant allegedly visited the Regional Office, EPFO, Pune, in February and submitted a joint declaration form to the office.

The complainant had allegedly visited the office on March 12 and met the accused official, who demanded a bribe of ₹2,000 to ensure that his claim request got passed. Further, when the complainant expressed his inability to send the demand sum through online payment, the accused officer allegedly agreed to accept the bribe amount in cash on March 14, CBI sources said.