Railgate: CBI may not name Bansal in charge sheet

CBI did not gather any evidence to show Bansal as a suspect in Rail bribery case

In what could be interpreted as a clean chit to former rail minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on his role in the railways’ job-for-cash scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is unlikely to name the Congress leader in the chargesheet, sources said.

The CBI is expected to file a charge sheet in this matter by the first week of July. The investigating agency had quizzed Bansal for over seven hours recently, but did not gather any evidence to show him as a suspect in the case, according to sources.

Bansal has denied having any role in the exchange of bribe between his nephew Vijay Singla and the now-suspended member (staff) of the Railway Board, Mahesh Kumar. Bansal is learnt to have told the CBI that he was not aware of Singla’s dealings with Kumar.

Besides the main accused Singla and Kumar, the agency will also name Ajay Garg, Narayan Rao Manjunath, managing director of G.G. Tronics India, and the close aides of Singla — Samir Sandhir, Rahul Yadav, and Panchkula-based Sandeep Goyal — in the charge sheet.

The CBI had registered a first information report (FIR) in this case on May 3. Soon after, Bansal had to resign as rail minister. It is possible that the CBI would name Bansal as one of the witnesses against his nephew Singla, sources indicated.

Meanwhile, the agency registered two fresh preliminary enquiries against another Railway Board member,  Kulbhushan (electrical) and also Rahul Bhandari, personal secretary to the former rail minister.

The CBI is probing Bhandari’s role in influencing the postings of Railway Board members. Based on the findings of both enquiries, the investigating agency will register FIRs in the respective cases.

According to CBI officials, the fresh enquiries could throw up more names and make the probe even murkier.