Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three persons including a Railway official, his driver and the partner of a Kolkata based private company in an alleged bribery of Rs 1 lakh, agency officials informed on Tuesday.
The arrested persons were identified as Ashok Kumar Gupta, (IRSME-1985 Batch), Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer employed with the Central Railway, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) Mumbai, his driver Abdul Kalam Shaikh, who qualified as a Technician-II, Central Railway, and Aditya Tibrewal, a partner of M/s. Anand Sales Corporation, Kolkata, according to the statement issued by the officials.
Cash amounting to Rs 23 lakh and jewellery worth around Rs 40 lakh have been recovered in searches conducted at ten locations, including in Mumbai, Kolkata, Ghaziabad, Noida, Dehradun and Delhi at the premises of the accused.
Besides this, the CBI has unearthed details of investments of around Rs 8 crore, land and houses at Noida, Haridwar, Dehradun and Delhi worth more than Rs 5 crore; three foreign bank accounts at Singapore and USA having deposits to the tune of around USD 2,00,000; an NRI bank account and other bank accounts in the name of the accused and family members.
A bank locker has also been identified, the statement said.
According to the CBI, a case was registered against Gupta, Tibrewal and other unknown persons including public servants. It was alleged that the bills of the Kolkata based private company were pending with the Mechanical Department of Central Railway.
Gupta was in-charge of Mechanical Department of Central Railways, Mumbai, and all Tenders and Work Contracts related to the department were allegedly under his purview. On Gupta’s instructions, his official driver Shaikh had accepted the bribe of Rs 1,00,000 on his behalf from a private firm in Bandra, Mumbai.
The amount was delivered on behalf of Tibrewal, according to a statement issued by the agency.
The CBI arrested Gupta (who demanded the bribe), his driver Shaikh and also recovered the bribe amount. Later, Tibrewal was also apprehended.
The Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer ( PCME) is the Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department. The PCME is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of diesel locomotives, all types of coaches and wagons.
The workshops, where periodic overhauling of locomotives are undertaken, come under the technical and administrative control of the PCME, a post Gupta had taken over in January 2020.
He had also served as the chief motive power engineer of Western Railway between March 2017 to December 2019. The Chief Motive Power Engineer exercises direct control on the affairs of maintenance of diesel locomotives.
