The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested the chief mechanical engineer (CME) of Paradip Port Trust, Saroj Kumar Das, and three persons including a conduit and a middleman in a case related to bribery.

In a press release, the CBI said a case was registered against CME, Paradip Port Trust, and others including private persons, a private company and unknown others.

Those who were arrested included the deputy general manager of a leading company of the state — Orissa Stevedores Limited.

“It was alleged that the CME was in the habit of demanding and accepting bribes through his close conduit for extending undue benefits to various private stakeholders engaged in port service and activities at Paradip port,” the press release said.According to the CBI, a Cuttack-based private company damaged the conveyor belt operational in Paradip port while unloading cargo. The cost of repairing or replacement of the conveyor belt was very high.

“The CME in conspiracy with conduit, middleman & director of the said private company got it repaired at the cost of Port Trust causing huge monetary advantage to said private company,” the press release said.In return, on behalf of CME, the conduit allegedly demanded Rs 60 lakh as a bribe.

Accordingly, he collected the bribe amount of Rs 25 lakh from Cuttack and kept Rs 10 lakh separately for himself, the CBI said. According to the allegation, the conduit handed over Rs 10 lakh to a real estate developer in Bhubaneswar, with whom the chief mechanical engineer had allegedly booked a property, the CBI said.