CBI today arrested two courier boys,who allegedly delivered Rs 90 lakh cash as bribe to the nephew of Railway Minister P K Bansal,for fixing the promotion of a Railway Board member. With the arrest of two delivery boys,the total number of arrests by the agency in the bribery scandal have risen to six which also include-Singla,Railway Board Member (Staff) Mahesh Kumar,middlemen Sandip Goyal and Manjunath. All the accused are being brought here and would be produced before the Patiala House court. The agency would seek their remand for questioning at the headquarters. CBI sources said crucial documents related to various railway projects besides records of Board discussions are among some seizures made from the residence of Mahesh Kumar,a 1975 batch Indian Railway Engineering Services,in Mumbai. Senior officials said that bribe of Rs 90 lakh was a part payment for Rs two crore bribe allegedly agreed upon between Singla and Kumar for the lucrative posting of Member (Electrical) which is crucial for passing tenders of over Rs 2000 crore worth of Railway projects in the coming future. Singla,who is a close aide of Bansal and was regularly seen in election campaigning alongside,had allegedly demanded Rs 10 crore for getting Kumar posted as Member (Electrical) which is considered next to Railway Board Chairman in hierarchy,the sources said. The agency,which has received a tip-off about the alleged deal,had kept Singla and Kumar's phones on surveillance and were keeping a tab on all their movements,the sources said. The sources said initially Singla had allegedly demanded Rs 10 crore of bribe but after negotiations,a sum of Rs two crore was agreed upon between the two. MORE When the CBI teams,which were on alert in Chandigarh,Bangalore,Mumbai and Delhi,came to know about the delivery of cash,they nabbed Singla allegedly with the cash while others from their respective residence. Senior officials said Singla and Goyal were arrested in Chandigarh for allegedly accepting Rs 90 lakh in cash from Manjunath,the conduit of Mahesh Kumar,who was nabbed from Bangalore,while Kumar was arrested from Mumbai from his sprawling Peddar Road bungalow. CBI has registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC against him. Kumar was General Manager (Western railways) and promoted recently as Member Railway Board,a post equivalent to Secretary in Government of India, the sources said. Bansal has said that he has no business links with his nephew and denied any wrongdoing.
