Assam: CBI arrest NFR officials, others in bribery case

GUWAHATI:

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested three senior officials of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), and a few others, in a bribery case of one crore rupees, sources said.

Among the accused are Mahendra Singh Chauhan, chief administrative officer, (construction-II), NFR, Maligaon, Hem Chand Borah, deputy chief engineer, Laxmi Kant Verma, assistant executive engineer; Pawan Baid, director of ABCI Infrastructures Pvt. Ltd; Bhupendra Rawat, an employee of ABCI Infrastructures Pvt. Ltd; Indra Singh (private person) and other unknown persons, a statement said.

“We have registered cases against them even as further investigation is on. The accused who were allegedly exchanging the bribe money were caught, and we have recovered the money,” the statement added.

Sources said the investigation agency busted the racket based on allegations that some senior public functionaries of NFR were involved in corrupt practices with private contractors for ongoing projects in NFR.

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According to the allegations, the accused were abusing their official position for obtaining illegal gratification.

It was alleged that the director of a private company was in contact with the accused chief administrative officer in various NFR projects, and on his demand, the director, through his employee, delivered a bribe of Rs 1 crore to a relative (private person) of the accused chief administrative officer at his residence in Dehradun.

The contractors were allegedly being facilitated in awarding the contracts, processing of subsequent bills, and the release of payments by the public functionaries instead of illegal gratification.

The CBI conducted searches at 21 locations of the country, including Delhi, Uttarakhand, Assam, Tripura and West Bengal, which led to the recovery of cash amounting to Rs 54 lakh on Sunday.

(Edited by Ladiangti Rani)

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