Micromax owners arrested by CBI in bribery case

In a big jolt to the electronics company, it has been reported that the owners of Micromax, Rajesh Agarwal and Manish Tuli have been arrested for allegedly paying engineers of North Municipal Corporation a bribe. The partners were apparently held for trying to pay Rs 30 lakhs as bribe to get clearance for the construction of a banquet hall.

The two civic engineers, identified as Naresh Kumar and Satish Kumar, who were allegedly taking bribe on behalf of corporation engineers were also arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Micromax owners were in talks to build a banquet hall in Wazirpur Industrial Area but the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had been demanding around Rs 50 lakhs for it. Following negotiations, Rs 30 lakhs was agreed upon.

Micromax dragged into bribery charges

Confirming the arrest, CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said, “We have arrested five persons so far including Agarwal and Tuli. Further investigations are on.” The CBI is examining documents seized during the raid carried out during the investigation to ascertain if Micromax had paid any bribes in the past and all the five put under arrest will be produced before a special CBI court on Thursday.

Micromax has been quick to distance the company from the investigations and arrests. "The company has nothing to do with alleged personal misconduct of two arrested individuals," a Micromax Informatics spokesperson said.

The company launched its flagship Canvas 4 last month. At Rs 17,999, the Canvas 4 is by far the most expensive handset launched by Micromax and it features a 5-inch True IPS HD display with 720p resolution at 293ppi as well as a 1.2Ghz quad-core MT6589 Mediatek processor. Check out our review of the Canvas 4.

(With inputs from Agencies)