CBI arrests official, private individual in ₹1 lakh Visakhapatnam bribery case: Who are they; what are they accused of?

The CBI arrested Plant Quarantine Station Assistant Director Sudhakara TM and private individual Sunkavalli Satyanarayana in an alleged ₹1 lakh bribery case involving imported-container clearances in Visakhapatnam.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a government official and a private individual in an alleged bribery case involving the clearance of imported containers in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, according to news reports. The agency has alleged that the official sought ₹1 lakh from a private firm to facilitate the clearance process and was caught accepting the money through an intermediary.

The CBI has arrested an Assistant Director of the Plant Quarantine Station (PQS) in Visakhapatnam and a private individual in an alleged bribery case involving the clearance of imported containers.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Sudhakara TM, Assistant Director and in-charge of the Plant Quarantine Station in Visakhapatnam, and Sunkavalli Satyanarayana, a private individual who allegedly acted as an intermediary in the transaction.

Who are the two accused?

Sudhakara TM was serving as the Assistant Director and in-charge of the Plant Quarantine Station in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

The second accused, Sunkavalli Satyanarayana, is a private individual whom the CBI has alleged acted as an intermediary between the government official and the private firm.

The CBI registered a case on November 6 against two officials of the Plant Quarantine Station, including Sudhakara, three private individuals and other unidentified persons over the alleged demand and acceptance of an undue advantage.

What is the bribery case about?

According to the CBI, Sudhakara allegedly demanded ₹1 lakh from a private firm for clearing containers that were awaiting approval from the Plant Quarantine Station.

Following a complaint, the agency conducted a verification exercise and laid a trap on November 6. During the operation, the Assistant Director was allegedly caught accepting the ₹1 lakh bribe through Satyanarayana.

The CBI said the entire bribe amount was recovered during the trap proceedings. Both individuals were subsequently arrested.

Where did the CBI conduct searches?

Following the arrests, the agency conducted searches at premises linked to the accused in Visakhapatnam, Faridabad in Haryana and Thimanapalli village in Karnataka's Kolar district.

The investigators are examining documents and other material recovered during the searches as part of the ongoing probe.

The two arrested accused were produced before the competent court in Visakhapatnam on November 7. The CBI is continuing its investigation to establish the role of other individuals named in the case.

About the Author

Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers. <br><br> With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations. <br><br> Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’. <br><br> He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune. <br><br> He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP. <br><br> He can be reached on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani">LinkedIn</a> or on <a href="https://x.com/GarvitBhirani">@garvitbhirani</a> on X