The CBI would question senior officials of Union Railway Ministry, including Railway Board Chairman Vinay Mittal, over the next few days to get details of the `10-crore bribery case and to know if other posts were also available for a price in the ministry and rail coach factories.
The agency is probing whether any undue interference and influence came in the way of appointments to crucial posts in the ministry. The CBI had on Thursday questioned Rahul Bhandari and personal secretary to Pawan Kumar Bansal.
The agency is examining whether N R Manjunath, managing director of GG Tronics India Pvt Ltd, used the hawala route to get a bribe instalment of `90 lakh transferred to Delhi from Bangalore.
Two ‘courier boys’ took the money from Delhi to Chandigarh and handed it over to Vijay Singla, Bansal’s nephew who had promised to get Mahesh Kumar posted as Member (Electrical) in the Railway Board if he paid `10 crore.
Kumar, appointed as Member (Staff) in the Railway Board on May 2, wanted to be posted as Member (Electrical) and had approached Singla through Chandigarh based Goyal. After Goyal told Kumar that he could be appointed as Member (Electrical) only in July, the latter wanted to be given the additional charge of General Manager, Western Railways, till that time. Goyal also demanded that Kumar pay him `2 crore immediately, while the rest `8 crore could be paid later.
Later, Kumar approached Manjunath to arrange for the bribe amount and the latter sent `90 lakh. The agency is trying to find out what official favours were promised to Manjunath by Kumar.
Insider’s Role
The CBI has initiated an internal probe to verify whether any officer posted at its Chandigarh office leaked information related to the arrest of senior railway officer Mahesh Kumar.
The CBI believes that Kumar’s wife shifted valuables and other incriminating documents to the residence of an officer of the Railway Protection Force, probably based on information from an agency insider.
Vijay Singla and middleman Sandeep Goyal were arrested on May 3, while accepting `90 lakh bribe from associates of Kumar.