India's CBI busts racket offering Rajya Sabha seats, falsely promising governorship for Rs 100 crore

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of India has busted a racket and arrested four people for allegedly promising a Rajya Sabha seat to certain people for up to Rs 100 crore. Besides the Upper House seats, the accused persons also promised to arrange governorship and chairmanship of different government organisations in lieu of bribes.

Over four people have been charged by the CBI. Some of them have been identified as Maharashtra resident Karmalakar Premkumar Bandgar, Karnataka resident Ravindra Vithal Naik, and Delhi residents Mahendra Pal Arora and Abhishek Boora, reports India.com

In the FIR, it has been alleged that Bandgar was posing as a senior CBI officer and flaunting his "connections" with highly placed officials and had asked Boora, Arora, Khan and Naik  to bring any sort of work that he can fix in lieu of payment of huge illegal gratification.

They conspired with "the sole ulterior motive of cheating private persons by falsely assuring them for arrangement of seats in Rajya Sabha, appointment as governor, appointment as chairman in different government-run organisations under central government ministries and departments against huge pecuniary consideration," the FIR alleged.

According to a PTI report, the Central agency came to know through its source that Boora discussed with Bandgar how the latter's purported connection with high-ranking officials who play "pivotal roles" in appointments be exploited to get the work done.

It surfaced that the accused were attempting to cheat people in the name of assuring them of candidature for Rajya Sabha against huge consideration to the tune of Rs 100 crores, the FIR alleged.