Rlys graft taint spreads,CBI registers fresh probes

Officer tipped for Railway Board chairman denied vigilance clearance.

The CBI has registered two fresh preliminary enquiries (PEs) into the alleged corruption in the top echelons of the Indian Railways. The PEs,which were registered last week,name a serving member of the Railway Board,at least three senior railways ministry officials,and an aide of former railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal,sources said.

The agency is likely to register regular cases (RCs) within the next few days.

After registering the PEs,the CBI earlier this week denied vigilance clearance to a member of the Railway Board who has been empanelled,along with four others,by the government for appointment as chairman,Railway Board.

This member had been seen as the frontrunner for appointment as the countrys top railways official,but the CBI is now learnt to have gathered evidence that indicates the member received bribes running into crores for allegedly awarding railway contracts to private companies.

These bribes,officials said,were routed as benami payments. The present chairman of the Railway Board,Vinay Mittal,is due to retire later this month.

The CBI found the evidence against the officer while investigating allegations of bribery by another Railway Board member,Mahesh Kumar,who was arrested early last month for allegedly paying Vijay Singla,a nephew of the then railways minister Bansal,in return for a top post in the Board.

CBI officers said that the leads in the case of the second officer too had emerged out of the telephone intercepts that had led investigators to lay a trap for Mahesh Kumar and the others arrested earlier.

Story continues below this ad

Significantly,the CBIs second PE is against an IAS officer who is an aide of the former railways minister,and who has already been questioned by the agency in connection with alleged payoffs for fixing lucrative appointments in the Railways.

Sources said more than one joint secretary-level Railways officer are now under the scanner.

It is understood that following the scandal and resignation of Bansal,the CBI received a flood of complaints and intelligence about alleged rampant corruption in the Railways and the apparent ineffectiveness of its vigilance set-up.