Guwahati: The principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya Maligaon here has come under CBI scanner for demanding bribe, less than two months after the principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Khanapara, here was caught red-handed by the investigating agency for similar charges.

An official source said the CBI has registered a case against the principal of KV Maligaon, Raju Kumar Das, for allegedly demanding bribe from a caterer for clearing his pending bills.

After preliminary verification of the complaints lodged by the caterer, the CBI registered a case against Das and his alleged accomplice Debojit Deb Sarmah, a resident of Podumbori, under Section 12B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and Sections 7 and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, at its anti-corruption branch here.

It comes close on the heels of the arrest of the principal of KV Khanapara, Rajesh Dhawan. He was arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a contractor on December 19, 2017.

The source said the complainant, who provides catering services and supplies other materials to KV Maligaon and also runs the school canteen, recently filed a written complaint with the CBI, accusing Das of demanding money from him.

The complainant's firm, Bhagyashree Sweet House, had bagged the contract to provide catering service and supplying bedding materials for national sports meet for which the order was placed by KV Maligaon in October last year.

"The complainant said he had done catering and supply work and submitted the bills. He received a payment of around Rs 71,000 in January. But when he met Das on January 30, to enquire about the payment of arrears, he issued him a cheque for Rs 2,36,964 (a part of the pending amount) and demanded 20 per cent of it," the source said.

"In the complaint, the owner of Bhagyashree Sweet House alleged that when he told Das that he doesn't have money, the principal asked him to encash the cheque and give him the money or else he would not clear his pending bills," the source added.

The CBI found that Das had asked Sarmah to collect the money from the complainant. "Preliminary verification of the complaint has disclosed prima facie commission of offence. Investigation is on," the source said.