Lucknow, July 15: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested the Branch Manager and Credit Officer of Bank of Baroda’s Koireepur branch in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur district for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from a loan beneficiary, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The arrested officials have been identified as Swarnim Srivastava, Branch Manager, and Pushpak Chaudhary, Credit Officer, both posted at the Bank of Baroda’s Koireepur branch.

According to the CBI, a case was registered on July 13 based on a complaint alleging that the accused officials had sought an undue advantage for the release of funds under a government-backed loan scheme.

The complainant had been sanctioned a Rs 5 lakh loan under the Chief Minister Yuva Udyami Yojana at the Koireepur branch. While the term loan component had already been disbursed, the overdraft facility sanctioned as part of the loan package was yet to be released.

The agency alleged that the Branch Manager and Credit Officer demanded a bribe of Rs 45,000 from the complainant in exchange for facilitating the disbursement of the overdraft component of the sanctioned loan.

Following verification of the complaint, the CBI laid a trap on July 14. During the operation, the agency caught the Credit Officer allegedly accepting Rs 35,000 from the complainant. The CBI claimed the money was accepted in conspiracy with and at the behest of the Branch Manager.

Subsequently, both officials were taken into custody and arrested by the agency.

The accused were produced before the competent court in Lucknow. Further investigation into the case is underway, the CBI said.

Earlier in the first week of this month, the CBI had arrested the Project Director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Shillong, and two private persons for demanding a bribe of Rs 12 lakh from the complainant to process his outstanding bill to the tune of Rs 13.38 crore.

The accused public servant had instructed the complainant to give part of the bribe amount to the tune of Rs 4 lakh, in advance.

New Delhi, July 15: For Shehzad Bhatti, the social media has become a major platform to recruit Indians and make them carry out anti-national acts. The police of various states have cracked down on these networks, but as each day passes more such modules are cropping up.

Bhatti who is backed by the ISI has not just been tapping people who are in need of money. There are a variety of persons who are being watched by Bhatti and his aides who are based in Pakistan.

Comments, opinions and content on social media that the people share is being closely monitored by the Bhatti syndicate. There are certain posts where people have made comments or posted their opinion against the establishment or authorities governing it.

An official said that such persons are under Bhatti’s radar and could become potential recruits if not acted upon.

Such persons are being contacted by Bhatti’s aides and once they fall into the trap they are given minor tasks, the official added.

The official further stated that the minor tasks would include posting against the establishment and also commenting on incidents that take place within the country.

These recruits have been told to indulge in a perception battle. The idea is to create a perception that goes against the country. On his part, Bhatti uses all tools at his disposal to ensure that these posts go viral in various parts of the world.

Getting people to engage with the post and reach a wider audience is the Bhatti network’s responsibility, the official added.

Shehzad Bhatti who is an ISI stooge has set up multiple modules in India. He had adopted multiple strategies where recruitment is concerned. There are some modules that he has set up, which are only meant to make attacks.

There are others which only undertake surveillance activity which includes gathering information about sensitive locations.

There are also modules which are meant to gather information about crowded locations and also instal solar powered CCTV cameras.

This module that Bhatti has set up is only meant to post content against the establishment and speak about incidents that take place which have not been good for the country.

An Intelligence Bureau official says that this module is extremely dangerous as it is intended at carrying out a perception battle against India.

The idea is to defame and create an anti-India perception across the globe. Bhatti who himself was a social media influencer before being roped in by the ISI, knows the tricks of the trade.

He is aware on how to get a huge audience to engage with such content. He also has a dedicated team in Pakistan which knows how to keep tabs on social media.

Another official said that for now, Bhatti and his aides want these social media handles to keep posting content on their own. Once things are set, the content would be provided by Bhatti and his associates and the recruits would be told to use their social media handles to post the same.

While the Maharashtra ATS has bust a module that indulged in an anti-India perception battle, officials warn that Bhatti would look to set up more such networks in different parts of the country.

The ATS had raided over 200 locations in Maharashtra in connection with the Shehzad Bhatti case.

An agency official said that apart from Bhatti, the Pakistani handlers who were controlling this module include Abu Musa, Amjal Gujjar, Abit Jat, Rana Husen, Abdul Memon, Munna Jhingada, Farooq Khokar, Zafar Supari, Shani Tiger, Sheikh Salman and Sarfaraz Dongar.

Each one of them have individual social media handles through which they would recruit Indian youth, the official also added.

Officials also point out that Bhatti’s next big operation could be in Punjab and this would be linked to the Khalistan issue. The ISI has been desperately trying to revive the movement and will get Bhatti to commence operations in the state, officials also say.

New Delhi, July 14: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested proclaimed offender Shibu Kumar Singh, one of the accused in the 2007 Sukanta Ghosh murder case, an official said.

He was arrested from his hideout at Raiganj Road in Gorakhpur’s South Gandhi Ashram, where he was living under the assumed name Akhilesh Kumar Shahi, the CBI official said in a statement.

The case was registered on the order of Calcutta High Court delivered on August 27, 2009.

After investigation, the CBI filed charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet on December 31, 2010, and November 14,2011, respectively, against Shibu Kumar Singh and three others, the statement said.

Absconding for several years, Shibu Kumar Singh was declared a proclaimed offender on September 15, 2016.

The accused was apprehended using human intelligence and technical inputs, the CBI said.

After obtaining a transit warrant, the accused will be taken to Kolkata for production before the competent court on Wednesday, the CBI added.

Barrackpore-based gold merchant Sukanta Ghosh was murdered on July 6, 2007.

The police found his body lying in a pool of blood with 18 stab wounds in Jawahar Kunja of Latbagan.

The police, after initial investigation, found that there was suspicion of the involvement of some goons allegedly working under the patronage of a Left legislator and his brothers.

The investigators found that the victim was murdered for refusing to pay protection or extortion money to the local mafia linked to the MLA.

During the investigation, the High Court had even directed the CBI to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the murder.

Justice Samapti Chatterjee had instructed the CBI to frame the SIT to reinvestigate the case that had initially been probed by the state police.

The High Court had directed that the SIT should be led by a CBI officer of the rank of Joint Director who would be responsible for providing updates to facilitate a court-monitored probe.