LUCKNOW, Jan. 28 -- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two officials of Northern Railway's Lucknow Division for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from a retired woman employee for processing her pension benefits. The accused are an assistant divisional finance officer and a cashier. They were arrested on Tuesday evening while allegedly accepting Rs 70,000 as the first instalment of a total bribe of Rs 3.5 lakh. According to the CBI, the bribe was sought from Rani Gautam, a recently retired railway employee, for approval and release of her pension. Officials allegedly demanded Rs 1 lakh for issuing the Pension Payment Order (PPO) and Rs 2.5 lakh after the pension started, assuring smooth clearance of other post-retirement dues. The complaint was lodged by Abhishek Singh, Gautam's nephew, after she informed him about the alleged demand. Acting on the complaint, the CBI laid a trap. On Tuesday around 6 pm, Gautam went to the Northern Railway office in Hazratganj with Rs 70,000, as instructed. The ADFO was caught red-handed while accepting the money, while the clerk was detained shortly afterwards from his office. htc...