Mumbai: ED Closes Money Laundering Probe Against Central Railway Officials After CBI Gives Clean Chit

Mumbai: The special court for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has accepted the closure report filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a probe initiated against several Central Railway (CR) officials, who were booked by CBI for alleged corruption. However, the CBI closed the case against them for want of evidence. Now the ED too has also closed the case.

On February 4, 2022, the CBI registered a case against eight CR officials, alleging that they conspired with suppliers to procure replaceable stores and parts at inflated prices for personal monetary gain. It was alleged that the purchase orders against most of the tenders opened at Vidyavihar Store Depot were awarded to the same set of firms during three financial years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 till August 30, 2019.

The CBI alleged that most of the purchase orders were intentionally kept below Rs 2.5 lakh, to bring down the competency to senior divisional electrical engineer level approval and it was intentionally done to avoid account vetting. Further, the internal enquiry by the CR’s vigilance department, CSMT, also revealed that items had been purchased on 8-15 times higher rates than other divisions.

Based on the CBI’s case, the ED had initiated a probe against the accused. However, after the probe, the CBI said that no case was made out against the accused. The agency filed a closure report, which was accepted by the special court on January 1, 2024. As CBI closed the case, the ED too approached the court for closure of the money laundering case.

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