TRAI official accepts Rs 1 Lakh bribe to favour cable operator, arrested by CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a senior TRAI officer for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a cable operator in Himachal Pradesh to favour him in compliance matters and to not recommend cancellation of licenses to the ministry.

On Friday, the agency booked Narender Singh Rawat, a senior research officer of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for allegedly demanding the bribe from a licenced cable operator for favouring in assessing regulatory documents such as quarterly performance reports.

A CBI spokesperson said, "After receiving the complaint we kept a close watch on the suspect. The purpose of demanding and accepting the bribe was to not recommend cancellation of their licenses to the ministry." The spokesperson also said that as per TRAI guidelines, the said cable operators are required to submit their quarterly performance monitoring to Rawat, after assessment or perusal, accepts or recommends cancellation of their licences if some discrepancies are found."

“The complainant is a licence holder of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for running cable services in Sirmaur district,” an officer said. The complaint was filed on behalf of five other cable operators, alleging that the accused officer was favouring them by improperly assessing their regulatory documents — the Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports (Q-PMRs) — and withholding recommendations to cancel their licenses."

After preliminary verifications, the CBI laid a trap and caught Rawat red handed while accepting the bribe of Rs 1 lakh in his Delhi office from the complainant. The agency conducted searches at residential and official premises of the accused in Greater Noida and New Delhi.

The CBI has registered a case under relevant sections of BNS and Prevention of Corruption Act.