Rail Neer scam: CBI arrests two senior Rly officials & bizman

In one of the biggest railway scams, CBI arrested two senior Railway officials Sandeep Silas and MS <g data-gr-id="22">Chalia</g> along with a businessman for alleged corruption in supply of packaged drinking water other than the mandatory ‘Rail Neer’ in premium trains.

The two senior officials were immediately suspended by the Railways following searches carried out by CBI in connection with alleged corruption in supply of packaged drinking water in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and other superfast trains.

Sandeep Silas, a 1984-batch Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer, and MS <g data-gr-id="23">Chalia</g> of 1987 batch were taken into custody late on Saturday night along with Sharan Bihari Agrawal, owner of RK Associates, in connection with the scam, sources in CBI said.

The arrests came after CBI recovered Rs 27 crore in cash during searches at 13 locations against the two former Northern Railways officials and seven private firms.

Interestingly, the CBI has recovered Rs 1.5 crore out of total amount of Rs 27 crore from the residence and office premises of Rajiv Mittal, owner of Comesum Group. Despite the recovery of such a huge amount CBI is yet to book Mittal but many are questioning the fact as to why the arrest has not been made yet by the central probing agency. This selective move has now put the CBI’s role under the scanner. 

CBI spokesperson said the two Railway officials and Sharan Bihari Agrawal were produced in the court on Sunday which has sent them to one-day police custody. They would be produced in Patiala House court on Monday again, the spokesperson added.

CBI has registered a case against <g data-gr-id="24">Chalia</g>, Silas and seven private companies RK Associates Pvt Ltd, Satyam Caterers Pvt Ltd, Ambuj Hotel and Real Estate, PK Associates Pvt Ltd, <g data-gr-id="25">Sunsine</g> Pvt Ltd, <g data-gr-id="26">Brandavan</g> Food Product and Food World under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

It is alleged that the two officials, who held the position of Chief Commercial Manager, had shown favour to these private firms in the supply of cheap packaged drinking water other than Rail Neer which is mandatory in premium trains including Rajdhani and Shatabdi.