E-Paper
Sr railway engineer arrested from Jamalpur in ₹34 crore misappropriation case
ED started probing the case following an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 9, 2018 following a complaint by senior deputy general manager (DGM) and vigilance officer of the Eastern Railway
The Patna zonal office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested the senior section engineer of Jamalpur Railway Workshop, Chandeshwar Prasad Yadav, for alleged involvement in misappropriation of 100 condemned wagons and thousands of wheel sets apart from other excluded fittings of Eastern Railway’s Jamalpur railway workshop, estimated to be worth ₹34 crores.
He was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 and the special PMLA court remanded him to five days in ED custody. Earlier, ED had arrested the proprietor of Shree Maharani Steel, Dewesh Kumar, a resident of Bari Dariapur under Jamalpur police station area of Munger district. His wife Mitu Ravikar is a member of the Munger district board.
ED started probing the case following an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 9, 2018 following a complaint by senior deputy general manager (DGM) and vigilance officer of the Eastern Railway against Patna-based Shree Maharani Steels, unknown railway officials posted at Jamalpur and unknown private persons.
According to the complaint dated October 16, 2017, Eastern Railway found misappropriation and irregularities in the disposal of condemned wagons and other excluded fittings from Dhobi Ghat siding of Eastern Railway in Jamalpur between 2013 and 2017.
During a preventive check conducted by the vigilance department of the Eastern Railway, it was found that 100 condemned wagons and 3,220 released wheel sets along with other excluded fittings, having a net value of ₹34 crore approximately, were misappropriated by an outside private agency and auction purchaser Dewesh Kumar, also proprietor of Shree Maharani Steel in connivance with unknown railway officials and other unknown private persons. Yadav was the custodian of the condemned wagons.
Officials said Dewesh and Yadav didn’t cooperate throughout the investigation. They added that further investigation was in progress to unearth the proceeds of crime and role of other suspects.
