Two senior officials of Films Division held for bribery

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Friday, arrested two senior officials of the Films Division of India for accepting bribe of Rs 70,000 from a decoration contractor.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Friday, arrested two senior officials of the Films Division of India for accepting bribe of Rs 70,000 from a decoration contractor.

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The anti-corruption branch of CBI arrested K. Divakaran (45), Internal Financial Advisor, which is a Group A post and Shankar Patnaik (57), chief cameraman (cartoon film unit).

The agency first arrested Patnaik, outside Andheri railway station while he was accepting the bribe from the contractor.

Divakaran could not be found immediately as he was in Delhi. The CBI later arrested him in the night from the domestic airport when he arrived from Delhi.

According to CBI, the contractor who runs a company called Shubham Decorators had got a contract for the Mumbai International Film Festival organized by the Films Division from February 3 to 9.

He had supplied chairs, tables, carpets and partitions for the dinner parties that were hosted during the film festival.

"When the contractor got the contract in January, the two had asked him to pay the bribe after the festival gets over and he receives the payment," a CBI official said requesting anonymity.

He said that after the contractor got a payment of Rs 2.53 lakh for his job recently, the two began to pressurize him for the bribe.The contractor approached the CBI and lodged a complaint on Wednesday.

As per CBI's instruction, the contractor agreed to pay the bribe on Friday. A CBI team accompanied the contractor when he went to hand over the money to Patnaik.