Later in the day, Mr Verma, his son Siddharth and accomplice Bhavna Pandey were produced before the duty magistrate, Mr Paramjeet Singh, who allowed the CBI to keep them in custody for five days.

All the three have been charged under section 120B (Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, including those relating to amassing of wealth disproportionate to known sources of income.

The magistrate asked the CBI to conduct a medical examination of the accused before taking them into custody and also to provide them with proper medicare during the custody period.

The arrest follows questioning of Mr Verma's son by the CBI along with his business partner Mr Rohit Jain. Mr Verma has reportedly not cooperated with the CBI.

According to the CBI, Mr Siddharth Verma and Mr Rohit Jain were owning five companies which included Jubilee Enterprises and Jubilee Medicare. The CBI alleged that the two were running some different business in the garb of these companies. It was found during the investigation that Mr BP Verma had invested Rs 20 lakh in these companies.

The CBI also made huge recovery of assets during the raid, which was completed late Saturday night. The assets included Rs 24 lakh worth investment in Unit Trust of India (UTI) and LIC, jewellery worth Rs 24 lakh, Rs 1.4 lakh cash, $1,500, household goods worth Rs 16 lakh besides having a bank balance of Rs 7 lakh.

The CBI had conducted raids at 15 places including Mr Verma's office, residence, the residence of Sandeep Srivastav, officer on special duty, the school run by Mr Verma's wife in Delhi and the office of AK Enterprises in Chennai. The CBI sources said that the agency was now scrutinising the documents recovered during the raids.

Mr Verma, who had invested heavily in the stock market, was the director-general of the economic intelligence unit of excise and customs and was made chairman amidst protest from a member of CBEC for alleged supersession.

Apart from Mr Verma, the CBI registered a case against Mr Siddharth Verma, Mr K Vijay Pratap, described as a middleman and the owner of the Chennai-based firm AK Enterprises, firm Mr Kiran Kumar Moolchand, under anti-corruption law. Mr Vijay Pratap had reportedly approached Mr Verma for "favours" for the firm owned by Mr Moolchand for some work in the customs department. The investigations revealed that Mr Pratap had come to Delhi on March 23 and stayed in a five-star hotel where he handed over money allegedly "running into crores of rupees to Verma's son," said sources. Even as the raids were going on Saturday at Mr Verma's residence, the revenue department put Mr Verma, an Indian Revenue Service official, on "compulsory wait" and had appointed Mr Sukumar Shankar, a member of CBEC, the new chairman.