Bengaluru Court Jails ED Officer for Accepting Bribe, Extortion in Chinese Loan App Case

A special CBI court in Bengaluru has sentenced former Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer Lalit Bazad to three years in prison for demanding a ₹50 lakh bribe and accepting ₹5 lakh to defreeze a company’s bank account in the Chinese loan apps probe.

The court found Bazad guilty of bribery and extortion while serving in the ED’s Bengaluru office and imposed a fine of ₹5.5 lakh.

Bazad threatened Apollo Finvest with false implication and prolonged legal harassment unless they paid the bribe.

The two jail terms will run concurrently. The CBI arrested Bazad in 2021 as part of a bribery investigation.

[The State by CBI & ACB v Sri Lalit Bazad]