Bengaluru: Former ED officer sentenced to 3 years in jail for bribery in Chinese loan app case

A Special Court for CBI Cases has convicted and sentenced Lalit Bazad, a former Enforcement Officer with the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), to three years of simple imprisonment and a fine of ₹5 lakh in a bribery case linked to a probe involving Chinese loan apps.

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The case stems from an ED investigation into a finance firm, M/s Apollo Finvest India Ltd., whose bank accounts had been frozen due to suspected ties with illicit lending platforms. Bazad was found guilty of demanding a bribe to facilitate the unfreezing of the company’s account.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Bazad initially sought ₹50 lakh from the firm's top executives during meetings at the ED's Bengaluru office in January 2021. He allegedly threatened prolonged legal harassment and reputational damage unless the bribe was paid. The matter culminated in a ₹5 lakh cash payment on February 9, 2021, at a pub in J.P. Nagar. The handover, involving an associate of the company, was captured on CCTV footage.

Bazad was charged under Section 384 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court emphasized the societal expectation for swift and strict punishment in cases of public corruption while delivering the sentence.