The CBI on Wednesday arrested a senior Enforcement Directorate officer in an alleged bribery case in Delhi, raising questions over the functioning of the ED that is already accused of doing the Modi government’s bidding to target its critics and political opponents.

Sandeep Singh Yadav is the third ED officer arrested in a graft case over the past eight months.

The development comes at a time when the ED, which mainly probes money laundering, has been investigating several high-profile cases involving politicians, mostly from the Opposition.

Sources said the accused Yadav, an assistant director-level officer, was allegedly caught on Thursday morning while accepting a bribe of ₹20 lakh from a Mumbai-based jeweller.

“Yadav had threatened to implicate the businessman in a false case if he failed to pay ₹20 lakh. He was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe money from the businessman,” said a CBI official.

The ED had conducted searches at the jeweller’s premises on August 3 and 4, following which Yadav allegedly threatened to arrest the jeweller’s son if he did not pay him ₹25 lakh, according to the CBI. After negotiations, the amount was reduced to ₹20 lakh.

“Last week, the businessman alerted the CBI and registered a complaint against the accused officer. Yadav fell for a trap laid by the agency’s anti-corruption branch in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar market on Thursday,” another CBI official said.

Sources said Yadav, who was earlier posted with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), was appointed assistant director in the ED in May last year.