CBI arrests DRM of Waltair Railway Division for taking ₹25L bribe

Mumbai: Acting on specific intelligence, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested a senior railway officer, a civil servant who belongs to the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering (1991 batch), and two businessmen who are proprietors of a firm each in Mumbai and Pune, in an alleged Rs. 25 lakh bribery case.

The case allegedly involved the payment of the undue advantage as a reward to the accused officer for facilitating the reduction of a hefty penalty imposed on an accused private firm by the railway, due to delay in execution of a contract for which bills worth ₹3.17 crore were pending with the railway, according to the CBI. The accused railway officer, Saurabh Prasad, DRM, East Coast Railways, Waltair Division, Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and the accused Mumbai firm proprietor, S Rathod, were allegedly nabbed in the city during an agency trap proceeding, during which the alleged exchange of the Rs. 25 lakh undue advantage took place, the CBI said Sunday. The agency also arrested a third accused, A Bhagat, who is the proprietor of a Pune- based firm, for his alleged involvement in the case.

During searches carried out by the CBI in the case, the agency allegedly recovered Indian and foreign currencies worth Rs. 87.6 lakhs, jewellery worth Rs. 72 lakhs, several incriminating documents including investments made in a flat at Kalyan, Thane, a locker keys and bank balances of the accused public servant, according to the agency. The CBI registered a case against the accused persons, including the railway officer, the two proprietors of the firms in Mumbai and Pune, and others, on allegations of criminal conspiracy and indulging in corrupt practices. The said bribe was allegedly paid as a reward to the accused railway officer for reducing a penalty imposed on a private limited firm for under-performance in the execution of a contract awarded by the East Coast Railways, which was being further executed by the two accused proprietors of Mumbai and Pune -based firms, agency sources said.

It was alleged that bills worth around Rs. 3.17 crores raised by a private company were pending with the East Coast Railway, Visakhapatnam, but due to delay in the execution of the contract awarded to it, it faced imposition of a hefty penalty by the railway. To evade paying such a heavy penalty, the two accused proprietors of firms based in Mumbai and Pune had allegedly approached the accused railway officer, who demanded a bribe of Rs. 25 lakh to get the penalty amount reduced, according to CBI officials.

After the alleged intervention of the accused railway officer, a reduced penalty was imposed eventually and the bill of the private company was cleared, according to agency officials. “Pursuant to the clearance of the bill, the said accused proprietor of Mumbai firm arranged to pay the agreed -upon bribe of Rs. 25 lakhs to the accused DRM during his visit to Mumbai on Saturday,” a CBI official said. The CBI however laid the trap and caught the accused railway officer and the accused proprietor of Mumbai firm during the alleged exchange of the undue advantage, according to the agency.