Railway cash-for-job scam: CBI grills Pawan Bansal

Former Union railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is now being questioned by the CBI today for his alleged connection in the cash-for-job scam in the country’s largest public transportation utility. The questioning was scheduled for today afternoon. The questioning of Bansal will revolve around his role in the appointment of suspended Railway Board member (staff) Mahesh Kumar involving his nephew Vijay Singla who was allegedly caught accepting a bribe of Rs90 lakh, the sources said.[caption id=“attachment_840137” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] Bansal, who had to resign from the Union cabinet in the aftermath of the case involving his nephew who is alleged to have been operating from his official residence, has been maintaining that he had done no wrong in the appointment of Kumar as Member of the Railway Board, a post equivalent to the secretary in government. While CBI has managed to secure all files pertaining to the appointment and also recorded the statement of Kumar, his nephew and private secretary Rahul Bhandari, Bansal will be confronted with the evidence collected by the probe agency about his meeting with the suspended Railway Board member in Mumbai on 16 April this year. Bansal is alleged to have met Kumar in Mumbai on 16 April and the agency claimed that during this meeting the appointment of Kumar, who was General Manager (West), was confirmed. CBI sources said questioning Singla and his associates had led the agency to understand “the role of authority which was supposed to change Kumar’s discipline from Member (staff) to Member (Electrical) and allow him to continue with additional charge of GM (West)”. Lateral shifting of the Board members is done in the same manner as the appointment of a new member, which is finalised after vigilance clearance and the nod of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. There are some telephonic intercepts which may come up during the questioning of Bansal, the sources said. Over 1,000 phone calls were intercepted during the two-month surveillance on Mahesh Kumar and Singla. CBI has so far arrested nine persons in the case. With PTI input