Railway bribery scam: Court refuses bail to Bansal's nephew

A Delhi court Friday dismissed the bail plea of former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla, suspended Railway Board Member Mahesh Kumar and five others in the alleged Rs.10 crore cash-for-post bribery scandal.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma rejected the plea of the seven accused and sent them to judicial custody till July 19.

The court, besides Singla, also rejected the bail plea of Mahesh Kumar, then member (staff) of Railway Board, Narayan Rao Manjunath, managing director of Bangalore-based G G Tronics India Pvt Ltd, alleged middleman Sandeep Goyal, Rahul Yadav, Samir Sandhir and Sushil Daga.

Meanwhile, the court after hearing arguments on bail pleas of accused M.V. Murali Krishan and C.V. Venugopal, who were charge sheeted by the CBI but were not arrested during the probe, posted the pleas for order for July 15.

The court had earlier granted bail to alleged middleman Ajay Garg, who has been accused of being instrumental in fixing the bribe amount for getting a favourable post for Kumar.

The CBI had arrested the accused for their alleged roles in the bribe case, in which a deal of Rs.10 crore was finalised for arranging one of the top positions in the Railway Board for Mahesh Kumar.

Singla was the "main person" whose influence was to be used for the appointment of Mahesh Kumar, the CBI said.