CBI arrests Arunachal college teacher, aide for Rs 2.5 lakh bribe in exchange for contracts (Lead)

Guwahati, July 24 (IANS) The CBI arrested an assistant professor of the College of Agriculture, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, for taking Rs 2.5 lakh bribe - Rs 1.95 lakh in May and Rs 55,000 now - for awarding contracts to a supplier at inflated rates, an official said.

Pavankumar Goudar was arrested on Wednesday for criminal conspiracy, demand of bribe/undue advantage by a public servant and charges related to bribing a public servant by a commercial organisation and abetment, said a CBI official.

He was arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs 55,000 from a private supplier, Anand Kumar Dwivedi, proprietor of Matrix Solution, said a CBI statement, adding that he had taken a Rs 1.95 lakh bribe earlier in May.

The CBI received a tip-off that the assistant professor had entered a criminal conspiracy with Dwivedi and unknown others, with a predetermined intention to cause wrongful loss to the college.

The CBI FIR said that Dwivedi had transferred a bribe/undue advantage of Rs 1.95 lakh in May 2025 to the predetermined bank account furnished by Goudar against showing favour in the award of a contract, supply of goods/items in the past.

The FIR noted that sources revealed that in the most recent irregularity, Goudar favourably awarded the contract of supply of 30 pieces of Milton buckets to Dwivedi at an inflated rate.

Dwivedi supplied the buckets on July 3. On July 15, Goudar conveyed to Dwivedi that, against the order for supply of 30 pieces at an inflated amount of Rs 75,000, the actual amount of the supplied goods was Rs 36,000 at the rate of Rs 1,200 per bucket and demanded the difference amount of Rs 39,000 bribe, the FIR said.

Goudar also demanded the residual bribe of Rs 24,000 that remained unpaid on earlier occasions from Dwivedi towards the supply of goods and items, it said.

Dwivedi agreed to pay a collective sum of Rs 55,000 as a bribe/undue advantage against the demanded amount of Rs 63,000, said the probe agency.

A source revealed to the CBI that on July 21, Goudar reminded Dwivedi about the commitment of payment of a bribe made by the latter and asked him to pay the said amount of Rs 55,000 by Wednesday.

Both of them were arrested while the bribe was being paid after the CBI laid a trap, said the probe agency.

A preliminary report prepared before the registration of the FIR said, “A Regular case is registered u/s 61 (2) of BNS and u/s 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) against Goudar and Dwivedi and unknown others and investigation of the case is entrusted to CBl, ACB, Guwahati.”

--IANS

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