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NR Lucknow Division Case: CBI probes bribery network in railways’ Gati Shakti unit
CBI officials on Tuesday said that they are now examining the economic, technical, and administrative aspects of the alleged corruption. The arrested individuals are being questioned, and technical documents, including files related to bill approvals over the past year, are under scrutiny.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched a detailed probe into an alleged corruption network operating within the civil division of Northern Railway’s Lucknow Division. This comes after the arrest of five individuals, including senior officials, on Monday. According to senior officials of the CBI, the case involves irregularities in bill clearances and undue favours to contractors.
In a press note shared with media, the CBI officials on Tuesday said that they are now examining the economic, technical, and administrative aspects of the alleged corruption. The arrested individuals are being questioned, and technical documents, including files related to bill approvals over the past year, are under scrutiny. The agency stated that more arrests are likely as the investigation continues.
The CBI confirmed that those arrested include Vivek Kushwaha, deputy chief engineer (Gati Shakti), Ashok Ranjan, senior section engineer, Anjum Nisha, office superintendent, and Jimmy Singh, an employee of a firm Tangent Infratech Private Limited and the firm’s operator, Praveen Kumar Singh. They said one co-accused, assistant executive engineer KK Mishra, is at large in the case.
The five accused arrested were produced before the court of Special Judge (West), CBI, Lucknow on Tuesday and all of them have been remanded to judicial custody till July 28, 2025.
Officials stated that the searches were conducted at four places in Lucknow, six places at Varanasi and one place in Ghaziabad and have recovered incriminating documents.
Another official revealed that the CBI had received reports of widespread bribery in the Mission Gati Shakti unit of Northern Railway. After verifying the information, a case was registered against Vivek Kushwaha and nine others. Raids were conducted at multiple locations across Lucknow and Varanasi, and several documents, project files, and digital records were seized.
The accused were allegedly involved in corrupt practices such as accepting bribes in exchange for favouring contractors during bill clearances, sanction of deviations, and project variations, CBI officials said. On Monday, Jimmy Singh was caught red-handed while offering a bribe to Vivek Kushwaha. A total of ₹2.5 lakh in cash was recovered from Kushwaha. Anjum Nisha and Ashok Ranjan were later arrested, and around ₹80,000 in cash was recovered from them.
The premier investigative agency said the FIR was filed at the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) office in Lucknow based on specific information received by the agency and names a total of ten accused individuals, including senior railway officials and private persons.
The FIR has been registered under section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for criminal conspiracy and sections 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which deal with bribery and undue advantage to public servants. The case has been assigned to inspector Sandeep Thalore of the CBI’s ACB unit in Lucknow for further investigation.
Mission Gati Shakti is a central railway infrastructure project aimed at accelerating the development of key stations and facilities. As part of the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, 44 railway stations in the Lucknow Division are under redevelopment. The project involves the construction of new buildings, foot over-bridges, lifts, escalators, circulating areas, and platforms.
