Rail bribe case: CBI scanning data from Bansal's house, office

In the latest development in the Railways bribery case, CNN-IBN today reported that the CBI is collecting data from Pawan Kumar Bansal’s house and office to determine how many times his nephew Vijay Singhla visited the railway minister. According to the report, which quoted CBI sources, there seems to be evidence that Vijay Singhla was in touch with the top brass in the Railways ministry. The agency will also try and verify if Singla was acting on his own or using the minister’s name. CNN-IBN states that CBI is also probing Bansal’s relatives’ roles in recent postings and transfers in the Railway Protection Force. [caption id=“attachment_757485” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Pawan Kumar Bansal in this file photo. PTI[/caption] Vijay Singla, his associate Sandeep Goyal, and Railway Board Member(Staff) Mahesh Kumar were arrested for an alleged bribe payment of Rs 90 lakh to Singla. The supposed payment was a part payment of Rs 2 crore alleged bribe amount agreed upon between middlemen Goyal and Kumar. It seems Goyal had promised Kumar that he’ll arrange the plum post of Member (Electrical) board in Railway Ministry for the latter.  Goyal was in touch with Singla and another middleman Ajay Garg to secure the posting of Kumar as Member (Electrical). Sources in the CBI said so far there is no evidence of any money trail which leads to Bansal but added that probe has just begun and “comprehensive investigation” of the arrested accused would clear the picture. They said during surveillance of Singla’s phones, they have come across phone intercepts which show that he was in regular touch with officials close to the Minister. CBI sources said agency has not come to any conclusion on the complicity of these officials in the alleged bribery scandal involving Singla and Kumar but it is likely to seek their clarification on certain issues. Bansal has been under increasing opposition pressure to resign, with a group of 150 BJP members protesting outside his Delhi residence on Monday. However the Congress party has said that he will not resign for now.