CBI arrests deputy chief engineer of East Central Railways in connection with Rs 99 lakh bribe

New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) The CBI has arrested a deputy chief engineer (construction) of East Central Railways, Hajipur and two others for allegedly taking a bribe of around Rs 99 lakh from employees of JPW Infratech, officials said Wednesday.

The arrest followed a raid by the CBI on Monday at the office of accused Deputy Chief Engineer Alok Kumar, where Office Superintendent Alok Kumar Das was caught red-handed while allegedly accepting the bribe from project manager Govind Bhullar and employee Suraj Prasad of JPW. The agency also arrested Das.

The CBI had registered the FIR on the allegations that Kumar and Das, in conspiracy with JPW Infratech, were indulging in corrupt and illegal activities of giving and obtaining bribe in lieu of undue advantage to private contractors.

The officers allegedly "turned a blind eye" to the usage of inferior quality construction materials by the company, thereby causing wrongful gain to themselves and the company and corresponding huge consequential wrongful loss to the Union exchequer, the agency said in a statement.

Based on the information about the possible bribe payment, the CBI laid a trap on Monday. During the operation, Das was caught red-handed while allegedly accepting the bribe.

"Two private persons, project manager (Bhullar) and an employee (Prasad) of JPW Infratech (JPW) were also arrested. Huge cash amount of Rs 98 lakh, 81 thousand and 500 kept in eight different envelops/packet/bags describing different marks/name were also recovered outside the office of the accused public servant," a CBI spokesperson said.

Following the operation, Kumar was also detained, interrogated and arrested in the case, it said.

The agency has conducted searches at 11 locations - five in Bihar, one in Jharkhand, three in Chhattisgarh and two in West Bengal. PTI ABS ABS MNK MNK