A CBI court in Lucknow has convicted and sentenced former Bank of Baroda branch manager Subodh Kumar Rastogi to four years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 in a bribery case dating back to 2015, an official statement said on Tuesday.

According to the statement, Rastogi, who was serving as the Branch Manager of Bank of Baroda’s Balrampur branch in Uttar Pradesh at the time of the offence, was found guilty of demanding and accepting illegal gratification from a borrower. The court delivered its judgment on November 2 after completing the trial.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered the case against Rastogi on October 26, 2015, based on a complaint filed by a businessman who had secured a loan of Rs 5 lakh from the bank for the expansion of his solar lights business.

The complainant alleged that while disbursing Rs 1.25 lakh as a term loan, the branch manager collected around Rs 25,000 under the pretext of chartered accountant fees, stamp paper charges and file processing expenses, the CBI said in the statement.

It was further alleged that after a cash credit limit of Rs 3.75 lakh was sanctioned, Rastogi demanded an additional bribe of Rs 25,000 and threatened to close the borrower’s account if the payment was not made.

Acting on the complaint, the CBI laid a trap and caught the accused red-handed while allegedly accepting Rs 10,000 as illegal gratification from the complainant.

Following the investigation, the agency filed a charge sheet against Rastogi on December 18, 2015.

After examining the evidence and hearing the case from both sides, the court found him guilty and awarded the sentence, bringing the decade-old corruption case to a close.

The Rajasthan Police intensified their search for Naresh Meena, chief of the Bhagat Singh Sena and a farmers’ leader, in connection with the alleged attack on the Forest Department’s range office in Nahargarh town of Baran district, conducting a raid at his ancestral residence in Nayagaon on Tuesday.

However, Meena was not present at the house, and the police team returned empty-handed. Meena has announced through a social media post that he will surrender at the Nahargarh police station on November 6 at 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, police have arrested four other accused in the case and are conducting raids to trace the remaining suspects.

The case relates to an incident in which a group of people allegedly barged into the Forest Department’s range office, vandalised government property, assaulted forest personnel and took away a generator seized by the department.

Acting on the directions of Baran SP Abhishek Andasu, a special police team was constituted to apprehend Meena. The team included Atru Circle Officer Ramanand Yadav, Mothpur SHO Kamal Singh, Baran Sadar SHO Nawalkishore Meena and personnel from the District Special Team (DST). The team reached Meena’s ancestral residence in Nayagaon early Tuesday morning. However, he was not found there.

Police officials said efforts were underway to identify and apprehend others involved in vandalising government property, obstructing government officials from performing their duties, and allegedly threatening forest personnel.

Following the police raid, Meena posted a message on social media claiming that the police had reached his residence at 5 a.m. to arrest him. He announced that he would surrender at the Nahargarh police station on November 6 at 5 p.m. In the same post, he appealed to voters in Rajasthan to move beyond the Congress and BJP and support what he described as a Third Front. He urged people to vote for the BSP (elephant symbol) or the RLP (bottle symbol), support strong Independent candidates and vote for Left candidates in Sikar.

His announcement comes amid heightened political activity in the state ahead of the ongoing Panchayati Raj elections. The incident occurred on November 1 when Pradeep Singh Rathore, in charge of the Nahargarh forest check-post, along with a forest guard and other personnel, seized a generator allegedly being used for an illegal tubewell on forest land in Jhiri Tapra.

The generator was subsequently brought to the Forest Department’s range office. According to the allegations, Naresh Meena arrived at the office with hundreds of supporters, who allegedly threatened to set the premises on fire, assaulted forest personnel and tore badges and nameplates from their uniforms. They also allegedly damaged official documents, including the seizure panchnama, before taking away the confiscated generator in a mini transport vehicle. The incident reportedly caused significant damage to government property and led to a police investigation.

Nahargarh SHO Vivek Harsana said police had arrested four persons on Monday in connection with the incident. They were subsequently produced before a court and sent to jail. The arrested accused have been identified as Jitendra Nagar (36), a resident of Nahargarh; Devendra Kushwaha (22), a resident of Balapura; Pappu Bhil (25), a resident of Lakdai; and Murari Gurjar (20), a resident of Murari. Police said efforts were continuing to apprehend the remaining accused, including the main suspect, Naresh Meena.

A passenger travelling on an IndiGo flight from Delhi to Pune allegedly attempted to open the emergency door lever cover shortly after takeoff, triggering an alarm on the aircraft, police said on Tuesday.

Following the incident, an IndiGo crew member lodged a police complaint against the passenger. Police have registered a case and initiated an investigation.

The accused has been identified as Gaurav Satyendra Rautela, 33, a resident of Saswad in Pune district. He was travelling on IndiGo flight number 6E6884 and was seated in seat 19D, next to the emergency exit.

Senior Police Inspector Govind Pawar of the Airport Police Station told media that during preliminary questioning, the passenger claimed that he had tried to open the lever cover out of curiosity and was unaware that it was connected to the emergency door.

As soon as he touched the cover, an alarm sounded inside the aircraft, alerting the crew.

Pawar said that tampering with the emergency door mechanism could endanger the lives and safety of other passengers on board. He added that the alarm system is part of the aircraft’s safety protocol and is designed to alert the crew in such situations.

The incident occurred around 12.45 a.m. on Monday, shortly after the flight took off from Delhi. The aircraft landed in Pune at around 2 a.m. Following the incident, IndiGo crew member Omkar Vinod Kulkarni lodged a complaint against the passenger.

Pawar also pointed out that a similar incident had occurred in 2024, following which police had registered a case.

Police have issued a notice to Rautela under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). A case has also been registered against him under Section 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 25 of the Aircraft Act.

Further investigation into the matter is underway.