The CBI on Saturday arrested a recently retired agency officer, who had probed the fodder scam and other highprofile cases, on bribery charges.

Sources said N.M.P. Sinha, who had retired in August, was caught accepting Rs 25 lakh, allegedly provided by Usha Martin, to settle a case against the company.

He was arrested “along with a private person who had allegedly delivered the bribe”, an official said.

Sinha was officer on special duty in 2018 to then CBI special director Rakesh Asthana, considered a Narendra Modi favourite.

The CBI on Saturday searched eight locations in multiple cities, including Sinha’s home in Faridabad, Usha Martin’s office in Jharkhand and premises in Delhi and Ghaziabad.

Sources said Sinha had, while posted in the agency’s economic offences wing, handled a cheating case against Usha Martin’s mining arm over an ironore mining lease in Jharkhand. “He allegedly demanded a Rs 25lakh bribe to settle the case,” a CBI officer said.

The agency has registered a case of criminal conspiracy and cheating against the promoters of Usha Martin and a former mines director of Jharkhand, sources said.

“The state government had favoured Usha Martin as a special case for captive consumption in its recommendation to the Centre for the mine allotment, in Singhbhum in 2005, after the company allegedly promised to use the entire ore in its steel plants in Jharkand,” a CBI official said.

The CBI alleges the firm later backtracked citing the Centre’s denial of a special provision it had sought in the lease.