Late on Tuesday night, the CBI team from Delhi raided six places in Lucknow, including the office and residence of the DIG.

During the search, the agency found Rs 4 lakh from the possession of Arun Kumar Dikky, the tout, and Rs 1.25 lakh from the house of B B Chaubey, the head constable who was on deputation with the CBI for the last five years.

“The agency has registered a case under Sections 7, 8 and 12 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and 120-B in New Delhi against DIG Vinod Sharma, Chaubey and Dikky,” said R K Gaur, PRO of the agency.

According to the CBI, Chaubey used to collect a hefty sum from the candidates for assuring selection in various posts of CRPF.

“A recruitment procedure for the posts of general duty constables, drivers and fitters was going on at the CRPF Group centres in Bijnore, Lucknow as well as other centres across the country for last few months, Gaur said.

Chaubey used to get information from the DIG about the recruitment schedules and the exact number of vacancies. Sharma also used to tip-off Chaubey about who will be selected.

Following this, Chaubey used to contact the candidates and persuade them to cough up Rs 2 to 4 lakh with an assurance of being selected, Gaur said.

The agency said Chaubey had a network of touts in various districts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Madhya Pradesh.

The gang used to collect the amount within a week of the declaration of results and refund the advance payment to unsuccessful candidates after deducting the token amount.

The CBI team arrested Chaubey while accepting Rs 90,000 from a tout at his Vishal Khand-1 residence in Gomti Nagar.

He was earlier posted in Patna for two years and had been with the Lucknow CBI office for the last three years, said Pankaj Srivastava, DIG, CBI, Lucknow.

Sources in the CBI said Chaubey had been posted along with DIG Sharma at CRPF Jammu centre for several years.