CBI names Bansal's nephew, nine others in bribery case

The CBI Tuesday named former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew and nine others, including a then Railway Board member, in the charge sheet filed in a Delhi court in the cash-for-post scandal.

The then Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar and Vijay Singla, nephew of former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, have been named as accused in the charge sheet.

The agency filed its charge sheet before the special CBI judge naming 10 accused innthe cash-for-post scandal that cost Pawan his ministerial berth. The accused are Mahesh Kumar, Singla, middlemen Sandeep Goyal, Samir Sandhir, Sushil Daga, Ajay Garg, Rahul Yadav, businessman Narayan Rao Manjunath and his aides M.V. Murali Krishan and C.V. Venugopal.

Two courier boys who delivered the bribe money have not been named in the charge sheet.

Bansal, who lost his job after the scam surfaced, was questioned at length by CBI during the investigation but was not named in the charge sheet as the agency could not find any evidence of his direct involvement as of now.

Sources in the CBI said if the agency gets evidence against him, it may file a supplementary charge sheet.

The CBI had to file its charge sheet within 60 days of arrests, failing which the accused would have been released on bail. The 60-day limit was expiring Tuesday.

The court is likely to take cognizance of the charge sheet on Wednesday.

CBI sources said the agency has been able to corroborate all the allegations levelled in the FIR registered by it.

In its FIR, the CBI has alleged that middleman Sandeep Goyal promised Mahesh Kumar that he would arrange the plum post of member (electrical) in the Railway Board in return for Rs.10 crore, the sources said.

They said Goyal, who was in touch with Singla and another middleman Ajay Garg, was trying hard to get the post of member (electrical) for Mahesh Kumar as several lucrative projects were in the pipeline.

In the meanwhile, Mahesh Kumar was appointed as member (staff) in the board, which is not a coveted posting in railway power circles, they said.

Following this, Mahesh Kumar allegedly approached Goyal for managing the additional charge of general manager, Western Railway, and Signal and Telecommunication till he was appointed as member (electrical).

For this arrangement, Goyal demanded Rs.2 crore as immediate payment.

The CBI alleged that Mahesh Kumar had approached the managing director of Bangalore-based GG Tronics India Pvt. Ltd., Narayan Rao Manjunath, and other industrialists dealing with railway work for making payment in return for the promised favours from him later, the sources said.

Manjunath could only arrange Rs.90 lakh of the promised Rs.2 crore, which he passed on to Goyal and Singla.