The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered yet another case related to a major bribery racket allegedly involving several officials of the North East Frontier Railway zone, who were previously booked along with private contractors and others in three cases.
The latest First Information Report (FIR) has been instituted against 20 persons/companies. Among those named are the then Deputy Chief Engineer Rampal, and his relative Ajay Bharti; Senior Section Engineer Santosh Kumar, who was posted in Silchar (Assam), his father Ambika Saw, wife Pushpa Kumari, brother Vipin, and sister-in-law Preeti Gupta.
Nayak Infra Private Limited, Sushee Infra and Mining Limited, Raj Engineering Construction, Northeast Marketing Company, and Kakarlapudi Infrastructure Private Limited have also been included. The accused are from Patna (Bihar), Kolkata and Bardhaman (West Bengal), Imphal and Tamenglong (Manipur), Silchar (Assam), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), and Rohini (Delhi).
The FIR mentions that on February 4, 2023, the CBI registered the first case against Mr. Kumar, Mr. Rampal, Tribeni Constructions Limited, and seven others. During the searches, the agency reportedly found evidence of Mr. Kumar receiving around ₹99.27 lahk in bribes from many other contractors and persons associated with ongoing works, through his account and those of his relatives, from 2009 to 2023.
As alleged, Mr. Rampal had supervised various projects of the North East Frontier Railway and his relative, Mr. Bharti, had received ₹2 lakh from Raj Engineering Construction in February 2019.
On January 17, 2024, the CBI had registered a case against several railway officials, including Mr. Rampal, Bhartia Infra Projects Limited (Guwahati), based on the findings from the investigation into an earlier case dated July 24, 2023. The check period was from May 2016 to July 2023. It was alleged that about ₹60 crore was paid to the accused officials.
The case dated July 24, 2023, named Mr. Kumar, his father, his wife and Bhartia Infra Projects Limited as accused. The official had allegedly received ₹75 lakh in bribe to extend favours to the company from 2019 to 2023.
The FIR stated that Bhartia Infra Projects was involved in the construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure, such as tracks, bridges, tunnels, and stations. The North East Frontier Railway had awarded 106 contracts to the company for the construction of new lines and the upgrade of existing lines in the region from 2010 onwards.
