Engineer among two railway officials held for graft in Ambala

The accused, senior divisional signal and telecommunication engineer Vivek Langayan and chief office superintendent Praween Kumar, were posted at the office of the divisional railway manager at the Railway Colony in the Ambala Cantonment.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested two railway officials, including an engineer, for allegedly seeking a bribe of ₹1.8 lakh from a contractor for approving his revised estimates.

The accused, senior divisional signal and telecommunication engineer Vivek Langayan and chief office superintendent Praween Kumar, were posted at the office of the divisional railway manager at the Railway Colony in the Ambala Cantonment. (Representative Image/HT File)

The accused, senior divisional signal and telecommunication engineer Vivek Langayan and chief office superintendent Praween Kumar, were posted at the office of the divisional railway manager at the Railway Colony in the Ambala Cantonment.

Langayan, a 2010-batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE), the prestigious Group ‘A’ cadre of the Indian Railways, and Kumar were caught red-handed while accepting the bribe and searches were carried out at the residences of both the accused,which led to the recovery of “incriminating documents.”

The bureau, in a statement, said the contractor was awarded two contracts worth ₹92 lakh and ₹1.15 crore through open tenders, and after completion of the projects, he had submitted revised estimates. “The chief office superintendent demanded bribe in lieu of approval of revised estimates, which was 2% of the gross contract value on behalf of the senior divisional signal and telecommunication engineer,” the bureau said,adding that 2% of contract value was sought to approve revised estimates.