New Delhi, November 18
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a divisional railway manager of the East Coast Railway for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from the owner of a private company.
Prasad, is a 1991-batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering posted in Visakhapatnam as the divisional railway manager of Waltair Division.
The CBI stated that he was allegedly taking the bribe from Sanil Rathod, proprietor of Mumbai-based D N Marketing, in exchange for reducing the penalty for under-performance in contracts awarded by the East Coast Railways and the clearance of bills worth Rs 3.17 crore.
The contracts were executed by DN Marketing and HRK Solutions Pvt Ltd of Pune, which was controlled by one Anand Bhagat.
The bribe was allegedly paid as “a reward” for reducing the penalty imposed for under-performance in a contract awarded by the East Coast Railways which was being executed by the companies owned by Rathod and Bhagat.
It was also alleged that bills amounting to Rs 3.17 crore raised by a private company were pending with the East Coast Railway, Visakhapatnam. However, because of delays in execution of the contract, the said company faced imposition of hefty penalty
The CBI conducted searches at 11 places in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Vadodara and Kolkata.
During ongoing searches, CBI has so far recovered a cash of Rs 87.6 lakh (approximately) along with jewellery worth about Rs 72 lakh, property documents, locker keys etc. Several incriminating documents, including investments made for a flat at Kalyan, a locker key and bank balances of Prasad, officials added.
