Micromax co-founder steps down after arrest in bribery case

Micromax co-founder has stepped down from active duty after he was arrested in a bribery case by CBI on Wednesday.

Micromax has issued the following statement:

Rajesh Agarwal, co-founder, Micromax Informatics Limited has stepped down from his duties and recused himself from the responsibilities. He will focus on the legal proceedings to clear his name of the alleged charges.

Following the media reports that owners of Micromax have been arrested by CBI, Micromax Informatics Limited clarifies that Manish Tuli has no association with the company. Rajesh Agarwal was present in his personal capacity with Manish Tuli.

On Wednesday, in what is being called a 'trap operation', the CBI allegedly caught Rajesh Agrawal and Manish Tuli handing over Rs 30 lakh to the junior officials of the MCD who were their to collect the amount on behalf of a Superintendent Engineer, an Executive Engineer and two Junior Engineers, all allegedly part of the conspiracy, the agency said.

After catching Agrawal, Tuli and two MCD officials "red-handed", CBI teams carried out searches at 15 locations including the residential and official premises of the MCD officers, the agency said. CBI teams recovered cash worth Rs 40 lakh from the residence of an MCD Junior Engineer Kapil Dev.

Rajesh Agarwal has been sent into custody for seven days. Six other people have been arrested in the case.

Micromax was founded in 2000 as a company that worked on IT solutions but it hit the big time after getting into manufacturing and import of mobiles in 2008. The company is the third-largest player in the Indian mobile market, behind Samsung and Nokia, in terms of total sales. The company offers a wide range of mobiles from feature phones all the way up to its flagship device, the Micromax Canvas 4.

With inputs from PTI