Three persons, arrested in the sensational bribery case involving Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew and a Railway Board member, were on Sunday remanded in CBI custody till May 7 by a Delhi court even as the agency arrested one more accused taking the total number of those apprehended to nine.
CBI told the court that these accused were part of the deep rooted conspiracy and they need to interrogate them to confront them with the other arrested accused including Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla.
Accused Narain Rao Manjunath, Managing Director of Bangalore-based GG Tronics India Pvt Ltd and two others —- Samir Sandhir and Rahul Yadav — were produced before Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma who sent them to CBI custody till May 7 after the agency said that their custodial interrogation was required to unearth the entire conspiracy. The CBI told the court that these accused were part of the deep rooted conspiracy and they need to interrogate them to confront them with the other arrested accused including Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla.
CBI had on Friday arrested Vijay Singla, Bansal’s nephew, in Chandigarh when a conduit of Mahesh Kumar, Member (Staff) in the Railway Board, had handed over Rs90 lakh to fix a posting for Kumar as Member (Electrical). Sunil Dagga, another accused and close associate of Manjunath, was apprehended by a CBI team in the capital, according to the CBI official.
The investigators are also on the look out for Ajay Garg, an alleged middle-man. The court had yesterday remanded Singla and three others, Sandip Goyal, Dharmendra Kumar and Vivek Kumar, in CBI custody also till May 7 after the agency said it was necessary to find out the “actual beneficiaries” and other conspirators who were involved in the bribery case.
The CBI has also arrested from Mumbai Mahesh Kumar, who is Member (staff) in Railway Board and is the main accused in the case, and he is yet to be brought to Delhi. The CBI has arrested them for their alleged roles in the bribe case in which a deal of Rs10 crore was finalised for fixing a top level position in the Railway Board.
The agency had said that it had received information that Manjunath was in regular contact with accused Mahesh Kumar who was trying to get himself appointed to a more lucrative post in Railway Board as Member (Electrical). Mahesh Kumar, who was GM (West) Railways, had been promoted as Member (Staff) in Railway Board and was allegedly trying to get himself posted as Member (Electrical) in Railway Board, it said. CBI has named eight accused persons in the FIR for the offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and for criminal conspiracy under the IPC. Manjunath was arrested Bangalore and according to CBI, he was the “main financier”.
Rahul and Samir were arrested from Delhi.