The CBI has arrested a divisional railway supervisor of the East Coast Railway for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from the proprietor of a personal firm, officers mentioned on Sunday.
They mentioned Saurabh Prasad was arrested in Mumbai on Saturday.
Prasad, a 1991-batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering posted in Visakhapatnam because the divisional railway supervisor of Waltair Division, was allegedly taking the bribe from Sanil Rathod, proprietor of Mumbai-based D N Advertising and marketing, in change for decreasing the penalty for under-performance in contracts awarded by the East Coast Railways and the clearance of payments value Rs 3.17 crore.
The contracts have been executed by DN Advertising and marketing and Pune-based HRK Options Pvt Ltd, which was managed by one Anand Bhagat.
The CBI mentioned it has additionally arrested Rathod and Bhagat.
Following the arrests, the CBI performed searches at 11 locations in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Vadodara and Kolkata.
The search at Prasad’s residence in Mumbai continued on Sunday as three almirahs have been locked and the keys weren’t accessible.
“Throughout ongoing searches, CBI has to this point recovered a money of Rs 87.6 lakh (roughly) together with jewelry value about Rs 72 lakh, property paperwork, locker keys and so forth,” a CBI spokesperson mentioned in an announcement.
A number of incriminating paperwork, together with investments made for a flat at Kalyan, a locker key and financial institution balances of Prasad, have been discovered, the company mentioned.
The bribe was allegedly paid as “a reward” for decreasing the penalty imposed for under-performance in a contract awarded by the East Coast Railways which was being executed by the businesses owned by Rathod and Bhagat, the company mentioned.
“It was additionally alleged that payments amounting to Rs 3.17 crore raised by a personal firm have been pending with the East Coast Railway, Visakhapatnam. Nonetheless, due to delays in execution of the contract, the mentioned firm confronted imposition of hefty penalty,” the CBI spokesperson mentioned within the assertion.
Rathod and Bhagat allegedly approached Prasad, who demanded a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to get the penalty quantity lowered.
“It was additionally alleged that after the intervention of the accused DRM within the matter, a lowered penalty was imposed and the invoice of the personal firm was cleared. Pursuant to clearance of invoice, mentioned accused proprietor (Rathod) of Mumbai-based personal agency organized to pay the agreed bribe of Rs 25 lakh to accused DRM throughout his go to to Mumbai on November 16,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The CBI laid a entice and caught the DRM and the proprietor of the Mumbai-based personal agency in the course of the change of undue benefit of Rs 25 lakh, he mentioned.
