CBI books railway engineer after recovery of 800 gm gold

New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) The CBI recovered 800 gm of gold and registered a disproportionate assets case on Sunday against a Senior Section Engineer of East Central Railway, Patna, an official statement said on Monday.

The accused was booked on the basis of communication from Superintendent of Police, Buxar, alleging that during the course of police patrolling a four-wheeler was intercepted at the toll plaza Dalsagar.

It was alleged that during a search of the personal belongings of the car occupant - Senior Section Engineer - a jeans trouser was found which contained a small gunny bag in which eight gold bars, each of 100 grams of 99.50 fine gold with a total weight of 800 grams, were recovered.

Further, it was alleged that the accused could not produce a receipt/ voucher for having purchased the same nor could he explain the possession of the same. The said vehicle along with the driver and accused were brought to the police station.

Earlier, a divisional railway manager of East Coast Railway, Visakhapatnam, and two others were booked by the CBI in a corruption case that involved the collection of bribes by the official for speedy clearance of payments against vendors’ bills and lowering of penalty for lax work.

DRM Saurabh Prasad was booked after he planned a meeting on Saturday at a pizza restaurant in Mumbai with officials of two companies to discuss the delivery of a Rs 25 lakh bribe.

Others booked in the case included Sanil Rathod, proprietor, DN Marketing, Mumbai and Anand Bhagat, director, HRK Solutions. The two companies were also named as accused in the FIR. In addition to these, Hindustan Fibre Glass Works Pvt. Ltd was also booked.

The companies were executing a project for Indian Railways involving heavy repairs, renovation and refurbishment of wagons.

The railway official had demanded a bribe to lower the penalty imposed on the companies and clear their pending bills.

“The aforesaid information discloses commission of cognizable offence(s) U/s 61(2) of BNS 2023 /w Sections 7, 8, 9, 10 & 12 of PC Act 1988 (As amended in 2018) and substantive offences thereof,” said a verification report of the federal agency after it got a complaint checked.

The FIR said the source earlier informed that the DRM had extended favour by clearing the pending bill of Hindustan Fibre Glass Works Pvt. Ltd. in late October 2024, and the final penalty levied was much lower than what was initially assessed by the Railway authorities.

--IANS

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