CBI investigation revealed that Mahesh Kumar, a 1975 batch officer of Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE), was posted as a general manager in Western Railways
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a 'bribe' amount of rupees 89.68 lakh in a money laundering case related to railway bribery involving the nephew of former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.
The ED initiated an investigation under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR and charge sheet filed by the CBI under section 120B of IPC read with Section 7, 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act against Mahesh Kumar, staff member of the railway Board, Vijay Singla, Sandeep Goyal and seven other accused.
CBI investigation revealed that Mahesh Kumar, a 1975 batch officer of Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE), was posted as a general manager in Western Railways.
"He wanted to get himself appointed as Member (Electrical), Railway Board instead of Member (Staff). For this, he was in touch with N. Manjunath, who was further in touch with Sandeep Goyal, a friend of Vijay Singla. Vijay Singla demanded Rs 10 Crore through Sandeep Goyal from N Manjunath to get Mahesh Kumar Posted as Member (Electrical).
"While delivering a token amount to Vijay Singla and Sandeep Goyal, the CBI team raided the premises of the office of Vijay Singla at Sector 28, Chandigarh and recovered Rs 89,68,000. During the relevant time Pawan Kumar Bansal was the Railway Minister and his nephew Vijay Singla was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 89,68,000," ED said.
ED has also claimed that during investigations under PMLA, it was revealed that N. Manjunath on behalf of Mahesh Kumar was persuading various Railway vendors manufactures/contractors for arranging bribes for promotion of Mahesh Kumar as member (Electrical) by alluring them that all the contributors would be taken care of/benefited from the desired posting of Mahesh Kumar.
"Investigation further revealed that first instalment of Rs 89,68,000, was made by N. Manjunath, MV Murli Krishna, Sushil Daga and M/s Venketeshwara Rail Nirman Pvt. Ltd. Manjunath himself provided Rs 50 Lakh, Rs 25 Lakh was paid by MV Murli Krishan, Rs 5 lakh by Sushil Daga and Rs 10 lakh from the account of M/s. Venketeshwara Rail Nirman Pvt. Ltd. Owned by Rahul Yadav and Sushil Daga.
“The aforesaid amount was routed through the account of various companies/individuals and with the assistance of Hawala agents. The amount Rs 89,68,000 was finally made available/arranged at Delhi in the form of cash and after that was delivered to Vijay Singla at his office in Sector 28, Chandigarh by the employees of Sushil Daga and Rahul Yadav of Delhi where CBI team caught them red-handed," ED added.
The Enforcement Directorate has attached the amount of Rs 89,68,000 arranged and delivered towards bribe the amount as proceeds of crime in this case as envisaged under section 2(1)(u) of the PMLA, 2002.
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