Singla never discussed Kumar appointment with me: Bansal

Former railway minister denies knowledge of post-for-bribe meetings at his house

Former railway minister and Pawan Kumar Bansal has distanced himself from the entire bribe-for-post railway scam in his witness account, saying nephew Vijay Singla never discussed with him the appointment of Mahesh Kumar, sources said. Bansal, however, acknowledged he had met Kumar during official meetings, where he had expressed his desire for the Member-Electrical post in the Railway Board. However, Kumar was appointed as member-staff after the post fell vacant on April 30, because of his seniority.

Bansal also said he had signed on the proposal for Kumar's appointment after a file was presented before him by the former Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal - which is the norm - on April 18 . Thereafter, the proposal was forwarded to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) and then to the Prime Minister's Office.

Bansal is also learnt to have told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that after serving for two months as member-staff, one cannot switch to another post in the Railway Board.

The former rail minister denied any knowledge of the meeting held at his residence at 6, Ashoka Road, between Singla, Kumar, Sandeep Goyal and Narayan Rao Manjunath, managing director of G G Tronics, said a source in the know.

Bansal, however, told CBI that his house was open to Singla and to people of his constituency and two rooms were allotted for meetings even in his absence.

Bansal denied he knew Goyal, Ajay Garg or Manjunath. He added that Singla, managing director of JTL Infra, has no investment in any of his family business and vice-versa.

Bansal had to resign as railway minister on May 10 after CBI's investigation into the bribery scandal threw up Singla's name. Bansal was questioned by CBI sleuths for over seven hours, after which the agency decided to make him the prosecution witness.

Bansal is 39th in the list of 90 prosecution witnesses in the case.