New Delhi, May 19 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested three officials of the Customs department in connection with a graft case and recovered Rs 20 lakh cash during the searches.

CBI spokesperson R.C. Joshi said that the arrested accused have been identified as Surendra Singh, Ajeet Kumar, both posted as Superintendent or Senior Intelligence Officer, Customs (SIIB), ICD (Import), Tughlakabad in New Delhi and Sandeep Rathi, an Inspector of the Customs department in a bribery case of Rs four lakh.

Joshi said that the agency has registered a case on the basis of a complaint against the three officers.

He said that the complainant, an authorised signatory of a private company had alleged that the accused demanded bribe of Rs 15 lakh for clearing the consignment of open cells (TV Screens) imported by his company and additional bribe of Rs 50,000 per container cleared in last four months.

The official said that later, the accused allegedly agreed to accept Rs 10 lakh in instalments and the first instalment of Rs four lakh was to be paid.

"CBI laid a trap and caught Singh while demanding and accepting the bribe of Rs four lakh as first instalment from the complainant. During investigation, other two -- Kumar and Rathi were also arrested," he said.

He said that searches were conducted at the premises of accused in Delhi/NCR which led to the recovery of cash and incriminating documents.

"Cash of Rs 11 lakh was recovered from the residence of Singh and Rs nine lakh from the premises of Kumar during the searches," he said.