The CBI may not be able to file its chargesheet in the Rs 10-crore bribes-for-post scam before the July 3 deadline, as the Centre has not given sanction to the agency to go ahead with the prosecution of an accused Railway Board member in the case.
When asked whether the investigating agency would file the chargesheet within the stipulated time of 60 days from arrest, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha said that the probe was still in progress. “We will try to file the chargesheet before July 3. Our investigation into the case is still on,” he said.
If the CBI fails to file a chargesheet within 60 days, the 10 accused arrested in the case may appeal for bail. On May 3, the CBI had arrested former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Viay Singla red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 90 lakh sent by former Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar. Singla had allegedly demanded Rs 10 crore from Kumar to get him transferred from the post of Member (Staff) to Member (Electrical) of the Railway Board. Following Mahesh’s arrest, the CBI had approached the Railway Ministry, seeking sanction to prosecute Kumar, an 1975-batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSS). The probe agency is yet to receive the nod for the same.
