CBI files chargesheet against 10 in railway bribe-for-post case

The special court on Thursday took cognizance of the chargesheet against all the 10 accused

The scam involving Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar and Vijay Singla, better known as Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew, has been described by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a “unique instance of bribe in bribe” in its chargesheet.

While former railway minister Bansal has been named the 39th of the total 90 witnesses, the CBI has described in detail the dealings of Kumar who took the initiative to visit Singla at the minister’s residence for negotiations over bribe money for his desired post as member electrical.  

The special court today took cognizance of the chargesheet against all the 10 accused.

Singla, who was a close aide to Bansal, has been mentioned as the main person whose influence was to be used for Kumar's appointment at a post he desired. Narayana Rao Manjunath, managing director of G G Tronics, acting at Kumar’s behest is alleged to be the key person who arranged the bribe money. CBI found that Rao was not just “eyeing huge favours in his business on appointment of Kumar”, but was also desperately trying to convince industry people that their financial contribution in Kumar’s posting would be “in their best business interests”.

Kumar tried to obtain illegal gratification from the private companies involved in manufacturing science and technology (S&T) items with an assurance to promote them after he became Member (electrical), the chargesheet said.

CBI has alleged in the chargesheet that Manjunath was hoping to seek favours from Kumar in future. Manjunath’s telephonic conversations with other accused conduits such as Sandeep Goyal, Rahul Yadav, Sushil Daga, Sameer Sandhir. etc established that he was at the “forefront” of arranging Rs 90 lakh on Kumar's behalf.

A hawala transaction of Rs  50 lakh, between two accused named in this chargesheet, was part of the illegal gratification.

The CBI probe revealed that Singla had asked for Rs 10 crore in two equal instalments for Kumar’s appointment. Later, the CBI has alleged Goyal was not satisfied with anything less than Rs 5 crore after which Manjunath suggested he would make 25 per cent of the payment if Kumar gets the desired post. However, if he was made Member (staff) with S&T and General Manager (Western Railway), then he would pay Rs 2 crore. CBI had recovered over Rs 89 lakh.

Kumar had asked Manjunath to arrange the initial bribe amount of Rs 2 crore through the contribution of other vendors who could be lured to benefit from his appointment, CBI alleged.