CBI arrests NF Railway officer, six others in bribery case

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday conducted raids and arrested seven persons, including an Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM), Guwahati, a contractor, hawala operators and the bribe-giver in a bribery case involving Rs 50 lakh.

CBI sources identified those arrested as Jitendra Pal Singh, ADRM, Guwahati; Shyamal Kumar Deb (contractor who arranged the money); Hari Om (acquaintance of the ADRM); Yogendra Kumar Singh (driver of Hari Om); Dilawar Khan (cashier of a hawala unit); Vinod Kumar Singhal alias Mukesh (owner of the hawala unit); and Sanjeet Ray (hawala cashier).

The sources said that a case was registered against the ADRM, Guwahati and other persons, including the contractors after it was alleged that the accused had entered into a conspiracy with the intention of showing undue favours to the private contractors for awarding of contract agreements, preparation of measurement book, processing of running account bills, early release of payment against pending bills and for the ongoing work of construction in Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway as well as for early release of security deposit and bank guarantees. It was further alleged that ADRM Jitendra Pal Singh was in the habit of demanding and accepting undue advantage from various contractors while being posted as Chief Engineer (Construction), NF Railway at New Jalpaiguri. It was also alleged that a contractor was facilitating the delivery of the bribes to the ADRM through his acquaintance with a Hawala Operator in Delhi.

The CBI sources said that a trap was laid an acquaintance of the ADRM was caught while accepting a bribe of Rs 50 lakh on behalf the ADRM, delivered through hawala channel. The ADRM and other six accused persons were also caught. Searches were conducted at the premises of ADRM and others in various locations - including Delhi, Narora, Guwahati, Siliguri and Aligarh - which led to the recovery of about Rs 47 lakh in cash, laptops and several incriminating documents.

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