Railways bribery scam: CBI could register more cases

New Delhi: The CBI on Monday seized files related to railways promotions and tenders the details of which have emerged in the phone calls intercepted by it in connection with bribery scandal involving former Minister Pawan Bansal’s nephew and suspended Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar. CBI sources said a team of agency visited Rail Bhavan on Monday to collect the files on promotions and contracts which have figured in over 1000 calls intercepted by the agency during last two months. [caption id=“attachment_778593” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image for representation only. Ibnlive[/caption] However, the sources refused to given specific details of the contracts and promotions which are under scrutiny of the agency as it might adversely affect their ongoing probe. The sources said if these records show any prima facie corruption or meet the claims made by the accused in the tapped conversation, the agency will register fresh cases in those issues as the present case relates only to alleged bribe Rs 90 lakh paid to Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla by the then Railway Board Member Mahesh Kumar for posting of choice. They said the agency would also call for questioning the officials whose names figure in conversations between four accused–Singla, Kumar and middlemen Manjunath and Sandeep Goel. The sources said agency is primarily focussing on the phone intercepts of these four persons as main conspiracy allegedly hatched among them. The agency is also likely to question Bansal in this connection and also senior members of the Railway Board who were privy to the promotion of Mahesh Kumar from General Manager to Board member. They said agency might also record the statement of present Railway Board Chairman Vinay Mittal in this connection. The case relates to reported aspirations of Kumar for his elevation as Member (Electrical) in the Railway Board for which he allegedly contacted Goyal, a close associate of Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla. Goyal had allegedly demanded Rs 10 crore for it. Kumar was in the meantime elevated from GM (West) to Member (Staff) in Railway Board, a post in which he was not apparently very interested. He then allegedly asked Goyal to help him retain the additional charge of GM (West) for which the middleman demanded an additional Rs two crore as immediate payment. The agency alleged a part payment of Rs 90 lakh was delivered to Singla, after which it carried out searches at their premises and recovered the alleged bribe amount. CBI has so far arrested eight persons in the case. PTI