CBI slaps bribery charges on two officers of East Central Railway in Bihar

The two railway officers have been booked on the charges of hatching a conspiracy and abusing their official position to help the contractor in the award of the railway contract.

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PATNA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday registered a case against three persons, including two railway officers of the East Central Railway, for being hands-in-glove with contractors and helping them in the award of railway contracts worth several crores.

The railway officers—Anurag Gaurav and Vikas Kumar—have been accused of helping director of M/s Anand Raj Infrateck Private Ltd Abhishek Singh in the award of contractor worth Rs.15 crore at Hajipur in Bihar’s Vaishali district.

The two railway officers have been booked on the charges of hatching a conspiracy and abusing their official position to help the contractor in the award of the railway contract. They have also been accused of accepting bribe in lieu of help extended to the company.

While Gaurav is posted as deputy accounts advisor (DFA), construction, Vikas is posted at Mahendru based railway office in the state capital. Gaurav, stated to be a native of Ranchi in Jharkhand, lives in Shivraj Apartment on Ashiana-Digha Road in Patna.

During preliminary investigation, it came to light that M/s Anand Raj Infratech Private Ltd has its office situated at Faridpur Mor near Fatuha in Patna district but it mainly worked for M/s Chaitanya Project Consultancy Ltd located in New Delhi.

Initial probe suggested that Abhishek met Anurag Gaurav at his office on October 9 and offered him a hefty sum as bribe if contract worth Rs.15 crore at Hajipur was awarded to his firm. The deal was finalised, and the contract was awarded to Abhishek’s company.

“More names are likely to surface in the tender ‘ghotala’ (scam). Further investigation is underway,” a senior officer associated with the investigation said.

In another case, the CBI submitted a chargesheet against five accused, including then principal income tax commissioner Santosh Kumar, in connection with an illegal gratification case.

Sources in the probe agency said that the chargesheet was filed in the special CBI court in Patna. The agency had caught Santosh Kumar, principal income tax commissioner of Patna and Dhanbad, while taking Rs.10 lakh as a bribe.

A case was registered against Kumar and four other individuals at the CBI police station on August 26. The other accused in the case included Gurpal Singh, Ashok Chourasia, Rajiv Kumar alias Chiku and Pranay Purbe.