Singla never spoke on appointment of Mahesh Kumar: Pawan Bansal

Former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told a court here Monday that his nephew Vijay Singla, an accused in "cash-for-post" railway bribery case, never spoke to him on the appointment of Mahesh Kumar, co-accused and then a Railway Board member, to any post.

Testifying as a prosecution witness in the Rs.10 crore railway bribery case Bansal said that prior to his appointment as Member (Staff) on May 1, 2013, Kumar had met him in his (Bansal's) office in first week of April 2013 and spoke about his specialisation in signals and put across his case for appointment as Member (Electrical).

"I just heard him then. When I discussed briefly the matter with the Chairman, Railway Board, that was the time when I learnt that the post of Member (Electrical) was to fall vacant only in September 2014," he told Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Swarna Kanta Sharma.

"Accused Vijay Singla never spoke to me about the appointment of accused Mahesh Kumar for any post," Bansal said.

He added that that Kumar was the senior-most eligible person for appointment as Member (Staff) in the Railway Board and he was promoted to that post during his tenure as minister which ended May 10, 2013.

He submitted that about the time when Kumar was due for promotion, posts of Member (Staff), Member (Mechanical) and Member (Traffic) were to fall vacant but Member (Electrical), which the accused preferred, would have been available only in September 2014.

Bansal had failed to appear before the court Sep 16 due to illness and the court on that day had directed him to appear before it Sep 22.

Last week, the court began trial in the case against Singla and nine other accused.

The court had framed charges of criminal conspiracy under the Prevention of Corruption Act against all 10 accused in March.

The other accused in the "cash-for-post" case are middlemen Sandeep Goyal, Samir Sandhir, Sushil Daga, Ajay Garg, Rahul Yadav, businessman Manjunath and his aides M.V. Murli Krishan and Venugopal.

The CBI had filed a list of 90 prosecution witnesses along with the charge sheet and named Bansal as a witness in the case.

Bansal resigned as railway minister after the case came to light last year.