CBI likely to quiz Bansal in Railway bribery case

New Delhi: CBI is likely to seek clarifications from Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal in connection with the alleged bribery scandal involving his nephew Vijay Singla.

CBI sources said agency is questioning Singla and his associates to understand “the role of authority which was supposed to change discipline of suspended Railway Board Member (Staff) Mahesh Kumar from Member (staff) to Member (Electrical)”

CBI sources said agency has not come to any conclusion on the complicity of these officials in the alleged bribery scandal involving Singla and Kumar but it is likely to seek their clarification on certain issues.

The agency sources said CBI has also got Kumar’s phone intercepted which indicated that he would have been the main beneficiary if he had become Member (Electrical).

Goyal was in touch with Singla and another middleman Ajay Garg to secure the posting of Kumar as Member (Electrical). In the meantime, Kumar was appointed as Member (Staff) in the Board and approached Goyal for managing him the additional charge of General Manager, Western Railway and Signal and Telecommunication till he is appointed as Member (Electrical), they said.

Goyal allegedly demanded Rs two crore as bribe immediately for this interim arrangement and said the balance of Rs eight crore for his appointment to the post of Member (Electrical) may be paid later, they said.

Kumar has allegedly used services of businessmen close to him to manage this amount and promised them to award lucrative contracts once he gets the new post. Bangalore based businessman Manjunath could arrange a portion of Rs two crore i.e Rs 90 lakh which was paid to Singla.