New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has identified for closer scrutiny 500 phone calls from out of the 1,000 intercepted calls mainly among the four arrested accused in the alleged Rs 10 crore Railway bribery scandal. As the scandal led to the resignation of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, CBI sources said on Friday that over 1,000 phone calls were intercepted during the two-month long surveillance on arrested member of Railway Board Mahesh Kumar and Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla. The sources said these calls were among four key players in the scandal - Mahesh, Singla and middlemen Manjunath
and Sandeep Goyal.
The sources said a discussion on the transfer of the Railway Board member in specific terms could not be traced so far in the intercepts of direct phone calls between Singla and Mahesh. However, there were calls in which Singla is purported to be assuring Kumar that the work would be done. Kumar was allegedly assured that he will get the lucrative post of Member (Electrical) in exchange for "pecuniary gratification". The sources said the analysis of the telephonic
conversation showed that the four key players were frequently calling each other on May 3, the day when Kumar was arrested by CBI sleuths in Mumbai. They said another important aspect which is under probe is how the bribe money was brought to Chandigarh from Bangalore.
According to preliminary investigation, the money was not physically brought from Bangalore but through Hawala route and Manjunath allegedly used his contacts in Delhi to manage money and got it delivered to Singla in Chandigarh, they said. The sources said Mahesh met Bansal at least four times before May 3 and one of these meetings took place on the sidelines of a function on April 16. The sources said that of the 1,000 intercepted calls, 500 have been shortlisted for intense scrutiny. They said it has emerged that Kumar and Singla were introduced to each other by Bansal only but they are trying to get exact details.
The location of Singla during surveillance of CBI showed his frequent presence at Railway Minister's residence and Rail Bhawan, the sources claimed. The case relates to reported aspirations of Mahesh for his elevation as Member (Electrical) in the Railway Board for which he allegedly contacted Goyal, a close associate of Singla. Goyal allegedly demanded Rs 10 crore for it. Mahesh was in between elevated from GM (West) to Member (Staff) in Railway Board, a post in which he was not very apparently interested. He then allegedly asked Goyal to help him retain the additional charge of GM (West) for which the middleman demanded Rs 2 crore as immediate payment.
The agency alleged that a part payment of Rs 90 lakh was delivered to Singla afgter which it carried out searches at their premises and recovered the bribe amount. The CBI has so far arrested eight acccused in the case.
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