Wing Commander A K Thakur is accused of demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a French company in lieu of allotting advantageous position during the show, IAF officials said here on Monday.
He was allegedly caught receiving the amount by the officials of Defence Exhibition Organisation (DEO), who had laid a trap following a complaing by the company, they said.
The incident took place only a few days before the show started on February nine. The officer was deployed there to oversee the arrangements at the static display area and mark positions for the aircraft there, the officials said.
The COI is being held under a Group Captain-rank officer at the Air Force Station, Yelahanka near Bangalore, where the officer is posted, they said.
The COI will probe if Thakur had taken any money from other companies also and if there was involvement of anybody else in the whole episode, they added.
The show was held from February 9-13 at the Yelahanka base where more than 650 Indian and foreign defence and civilian aerospace companies participated.