DGFT official in Gujarat falls to death from 4th floor after arrest by CBI in bribery case

Representative image/PTI

A senior official of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) died on March 25 morning after he allegedly jumped off his 4th-floor office here following his arrest in a bribery case, police said.

Jawri Mal Bishnoi (44), a joint director of DGFT, was on March 24 arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh, the official said. The CBI then began searching his office located on the fourth floor of a building.

DGFT is a government body responsible for implementing the country's foreign trade policy. “CBI carried out a search operation at his office throughout the night and was about to finish it in the morning when at around 9.45 am, the accused suddenly ran towards the window and threw himself out of it,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sudhir Desai.

Bishnoi sustained serious injuries due to the fall from the fourth floor and was taken to the civil hospital where doctors declared him dead, the police official said.

A case of accidental death was registered at Pradyuman Nagar police station, and further investigation is being carried out, Desai said.

The version of the CBI officers will be taken in this connection, he said. “A group of people protested at the civil hospital (accusing CBI of Bishnoi's death). The police staff present at the hospital provided protection to the CBI officers and brought them to the police station for inquiry,” he said.

Bishnoi was on March 24 arrested by the CBI for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh, said the official.

He had allegedly demanded a total of Rs 9 lakh from a businessman seeking a no-objection certificate (NOC) to export food cans which would have allowed him to retrieve his bank guarantee of Rs 50 lakh, police said.

As per the CBI, the businessman had already submitted to the DGFT office in Rajkot six files that contained necessary documents concerning the periodic export of food cans with the anticipation of receiving the NOC.