Railgater-press reports

CBI probe fails to establish Bansal role in cash-for-job scam

By Abhishek Sharan | Hindustan Times

 May 6 -- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s preliminary probe into the railway bribery case has failed to establish the involvement of railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, though the agency has arrested nine accused, including his nephew Vijay Singla in the case.

When asked about Bansal's role, CBI's spokesperson Dharini Mishra told HT, "The CBI probe has yielded any evidence against the railway minister. We have evidence against the eight persons named as accused in the FIR."

"So far, our probe has yielded no evidence that could establish the railway minister's role or if Singla was acting at his behest," said a CBI source.

The source said, "We are probing if Singla could have been acting on his own and was seeking to exploit his family links with the minister to pocket kickbacks."
The CBI has "no immediate plans to question the railway minister since there is nothing against him," according to the source.
"It is a trap case -there were givers of the bribe and its recipient. However, the probe is still under way and if we get a lead against the any body, whether from the custodial interrogation of the eight accused or other clues including electronic, the CBI will question him," said the source.

Singla, along with an alleged associate, was arrested on late Friday for allegedly receiving R90 lakh from the now-suspended railway officer Mahesh Kumar to allegedly get a plum post on the railway board.

"The probe has shown that (Mahesh) Kumar was very eager to cling on to his earlier post as a general manager, western railway and signal and telecommunication, as additional charges along with taking up his new role as member (staff), railway board," said the source.

The source said, "For this, he had agreed to pay Rs. 2 crore to Singla and his associate. We will scrutinise his stint as the GM, Western Railway."

The CBI is on the lookout for another accused Ajay Garg.

Published by HT Syndication with permission from Hindustan Times.