CBI: Central Rly official among 3 held in bribery case

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested 3 accused persons, including a senior railway official, in connection with a bribery case linked to alleged irregularities in the award of a major railway tender, officials said on Tuesday.

The CBI filed the case on Monday against Ramesh Kumar Chauve, who is the Chief Electrical Distribution Engineer of Central Railway and an officer of the Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE 2003 batch), Anshul Varma and Kanay Varma.

According to the CBI, the dispute arose as there were suspicions of irregularities in the tender of Rs 40.54 crore, which was to be awarded to a private company. Chauve allegedly conspired with the stakeholders of the company and demanded a bribe of Rs 40 lakh, which is approximately 1 percent of the total amount of the tender.

In a sting operation, Chauve was caught taking the bribe of Rs 10 lakh from Anshul Varma, which was recovered from the chamber of the railway official. After the sting operation, Chauve, Anshul Varma, and Kanay Varma were arrested.

During the raids conducted at five locations related to the accused in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, and Karjat, the CBI recovered cash of Rs 90.79 lakh, gold jewellery worth 241.30 grams, and silver jewellery worth 2,577 grams (approx. worth Rs 42.52 lakh), along with investment-related documents, from the railway official’s premises.

In addition to this, an amount of Rs 3.85 lakh was recovered from the railway official’s chamber.

The total worth of the recovered items in this case is approximately Rs 1.47 crore, with many other incriminating documents recovered as well.