Gangtok, Oct. 28: To cut down on costs, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has decided to close down its Gangtok office.

The CBI office located on Development Area in the hill state capital will officially shut down from first of November, said official sources.

The CBI’s operations in Sikkim will now be carried out by the bureau’s regional office in Calcutta and its Siliguri office, the sources informed. The office had been set up in Gangtok in 1995.

The immediate provocation for the closure was a survey conducted by the bureau to find out whether there were enough cases in the hill state to run a full-fledged office. The bureau is trying to pull the plug on expenses.

The CBI office was housed in a bungalow owned by the state buildings and housing department at Development Area here.

A.K. Tamang, a Sikkim police official who was holding fort for the CBI in Sikkim, has been repatriated to his parent department. Tamang is presently posted at the police station in Namchi, the south district headquarters.

Sources said the Gangtok office was shut down since there were very few cases being handled by the bureau at Sikkim.

Most prominent among the cases was the one pending against former chief minister and Congress president Nar Bahadur Bhandari and former rural development secretary P.K. Pradhan in the RDD water supply scam.

This was also the first case to be taken up by the CBI in Sikkim, in which the bureau was represented in court by I.D. Vaid who was flown in from Delhi.

Other important cases pending are corruption charges against Food Corporation of India officials, suppliers and transporters connected to the godown in Rangpo and a State Bank case where one of its managers has been charged with siphoning of funds.