NEW DELHI - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday arrested eight people, including an inspector general of police (IGP) and a commandant of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for their alleged role in irregularities in recruitment to the paramilitary force.

‘IGP Bihar Pushkar Singh was arrested in Patna in the wee hours while commandant Yadwinder Singh was arrested from Yamunanagar area. Rs.2.3 million and FDRs of Rs.1.5 million were recovered from Pushkar Singh while Rs.100,000 was recovered from the commandant,’ said a CBI officer.

‘Suspended CRPF constable Mukesh Kumar, who is believed to be the kingpin of the racket, was arrested in Jharkhand and Rs.765,000 was recovered from him. Among others who were arrested is Kumar’s third wife Swati from whom Rs.5.3 million was recovered,’ he added.

‘Others who were arrested include Tripurari Kumar, from whom documents of immovable property were recovered, Sindhu Nath Sharma from whom Rs.365,000 in cash was recovered, Dalip Kumar and Pargat Singh,’ the official said.

‘Cash and FDRs worth around Rs.11.5 million (Rs.1.15 crore) have been recovered. The documents show this has been going on since 2003 recruitment,’ said a CBI statement.

The agency had Tuesday registered a case of conspiracy, bribery and abetment against some senior officers of the CRPF in Bihar sector (Bihar and Jharkhand) as well as some civilians for allegedly taking bribes from people aspiring to be recruited as CRPF constables.

According to the CBI, the racket was being run with the help of a widespread network of touts across Bihar and Jharkhand, who used to contact prospective candidates and assure them of selection in lieu of huge sums of money.

‘It was further alleged that this network of touts has nefarious contacts with senior local CRPF officers occupying the posts of IG, DIG (deputy inspector general) and commandants, who were favouring candidates of these touts during the recruitment process,’ the statement added.

The CBI had conducted searches at nearly 20 places including Patna, Jamshedpur, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Munger, Bhagalpur, Ranchi, Aligarh and Yamunanagar across the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

A large number of incriminating documents, including accounts of payments and records of various candidates and documents of immovable properties were recovered during these searches.

In February, the CBI had held and registered a case against a CRPF DIG, a head constable and a tout on allegations of bribery in recruitment to CRPF in Lucknow.