CBI nabs Western Railway, Central Railway officials for graft

Mumbai, Dec 1 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a Deputy Chief Material Manager (Electrical), Central Railway, and a Deputy Chief Material Manager (Coaching), plus a Senior Material Manager, Western Railway, both in Mumbai and two private persons in separate cases of alleged bribery, an official said here on Friday.

In the first case registered by the CBI, CR’s Deputy Chief Material Manager H. Narayanan was nabbed along with Anest Iwata Motherson Pvt Ltd (AIMPL) representatives Samir Dave and Deepak Jain in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida.

According to a complaint, a representative of the AIMPL was regularly bribing senior officers of WR in return for awarding lucrative tenders to the parties represented by him.

The complaint said that Narayanan had also demanded illegal gratification from the AIMPL through the person acting as an agent between the officials of CR and other private companies for bagging tenders to supply/procure materials.

In the second case, the accused is WR Deputy Chief Material Manager Atul Sharma and Senior Material Manager H. D. Parmar besides others including the AIMPL, Industrial Forge and Engineering Co. Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, its current and former Marketing Managers Amit Kumar and Nimai Guin, respectively, private agents Samir Dave, Joydeep Hazra of Midlands & Amp. Co, Kolkata.

The complainant said that the agents regularly gave bribes to the senior WR officials in return for awarding lucrative tenders to parties represented by him. Sharma had allegedly demanded illegal gratification from the Jharkhand company through the agents, who were the conduit for WR officers and other private companies to bag tenders for supply/procurement of materials.

The CBI laid a trap and managed to nab the WR and CR officials accepting the bribe amounts of Rs 70,000 plus, and the bribe-giver agents. The CBI sleuths also swooped and searched around a dozen locations in Mumbai, Greater Noida, Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Ahmedabad and Vadodara at the premises of all the accused and recovered cash, documents relating to properties, other investments, jewellery and other incriminating articles. Further investigations are underway.