After SC rap, CBI to tighten noose around Bansal & Co

The investigation agency, which has arrested nine persons in this case so far, has finished questioning of four

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has decided to question Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and his staff members in the rail bribery scandal, after on Wednesday’s rap by the Supreme Court over its functioning.

The CBI is likely to meet Bansal and other railway officials to take their versions on the basis of evidence gathered during the questioning of the nine persons arrested so far and documents seized by the agency.

The CBI will have to take permission from the department of personnel and training if it decides to take any action against Bansal.

The CBI has arrested nine people in the case so far. These include: Vijay Singla (Pawan Bansal’s nephew),  Mahesh Kumar (railway board member), Samir Sandhir, Rahul Yadav, Sandeep Goyal (close aides of Vijay Singla), Vivek Kumar and Dharmendra Kumar (associates of Rahul Yadav), Narayan Rao Manjunath (Managing Director of G. G. Tronics India) and Ajay Garg.

On May 3, the CBI had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the accused for criminal conspiracy and bribery.

Separate cases
The CBI would register separate cases if it finds evidence against Bansal or any other railway board member, since it is limited by its scope of investigation under the current FIR, a senior CBI official said.

The agency has alleged that Kumar had agreed to obtain Rs 2 crore as illegal gratification from Manjunath and other businessmen dealing with the railways. The CBI says that Kumar paid this money as bribe to Singla’s associates in exchange of his posting in the electrical department. The CBI had laid a trap where they caught a bribe of Rs 90 lakh being exchanged between Singla’s and Kumar’s associates in Chandigarh.