Bribe goes cashless - now in cheque

TT, New Delhi, Jan. 31: The cashless economy envisaged by Narendra Modi has found an unintended taker.

The CBI today said it had arrested two senior railway engineers when they were accepting bribe in cheque, the hitherto-unheard-of mode taking the investigating agency by surprise.

"Such a thing has happened for the first time. In the past, we had caught many officials accepting bribes in cash. It seems bribery has now gone cashless," an officer said.

CBI spokesperson R.K. Gaur said Dilip T. Khaire and Shakindra S. Lokhande, both senior section engineers posted in Mumbai, were arrested when they were accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh through a cheque from the complainant. According to Gaur, the officials had demanded the bribe to give undue favours to the complainant in a departmental exam.

"Searches were conducted on the premises of the accused and they were later arrested. The duo were produced before a special judge in Mumbai and remanded in two days' CBI custody," Gaur said.