CBI arrests senior executive of major corporate group in drone import bribery case

The CBI FIR identifies the private executive as Bharat Mathur, a senior vice-president at Reliance Industries Ltd and associated with Asteria Aerospace Ltd. According to the FIR seen by HT, Mathur allegedly contacted DGCA official M Devula in March regarding pending applications for drone imports.

In a statement, a Reliance spokesperson said Mathur was engaged as a consultant and that the company was “not aware of any transaction involving him of the nature being referred to, nor have we approved any such unauthorised transaction.”

The CBI said the two were caught while the bribe was being exchanged on Sunday. Subsequent searches at Devula’s residence and other premises led to the recovery of ₹37 lakh in cash, besides gold, silver and multiple digital devices.