A railway contractor has come forth with allegations of bribery against GS Joshi, the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer, arrested by the CBI on Saturday. The contractor has alleged that the officer, who was posted as station director at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), used to demand and accept bribes from stalls, parcel office, canteens, hawkers and even those who slept on the station premises.
According to the CBI, a case was registered on July 23 against Joshi and another railway official, Babu, who was also arrested. The complainant in the case is a contractor who runs 'pay and use' toilets at CSMT. He has alleged that Joshi and Babu demanded Rs 10,000 for allowing him to operate his contract without any problem. CBI laid a trap and caught Babu accepting the bribe on the alleged directions of Joshi. In his complaint, the contractor had claimed that Joshi even demanded bribes for issuing ID cards to the staff employed at public toilets. As most of the staff is temporary and leaves work frequently, he demanded Rs 1,000 per identity card. As per the complainant, the station director also collected petty amounts of Rs 50 and Rs 100 from the toilet staff on a daily basis, failing which he threatened to impose a penalty or terminate the contractor’s work. The complainant said his employees had recorded one such telephonic conversation.
