Railgate: CBI documents validate phone intercepts

The CBI has gathered adequate corroborative clues to authenticate the reliability of the 1,000-odd telephonic intercepts made by its special unit that led to the cracking of the bribery case allegedly involving suspended railway board member Mahesh Kumar and Vijay Singla, the nephew of former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Abhishek Sharan reports.

The CBI has gathered adequate corroborative clues to authenticate the reliability of the 1,000-odd telephonic intercepts made by its special unit that led to the cracking of the bribery case allegedly involving suspended railway board member Mahesh Kumar and Vijay Singla, the nephew of former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.

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“The corroborative clues authenticating the reliability of the telephonic intercepts, came from our examination of the railway ministry’s records on appointments made and tenders issued by the railway board over the last few years. When the trial begins, we will have to corroborate the transcripts’ authenticity,” said a CBI source.

“In the telephonic intercepts available with us, several references were made to suspected irregularities connected to tenders and appointments effected by the railway board in the recent years. Information gleaned from the transcripts has been matched with some of the contents from the records,” said the source.

Kumar and Singla were arrested on May 3 on allegations that they had entered into a deal to fix a top a top post on the railway board for Rs 10 crore. The CBI’s probe has shown that while the files related to the promotion of Mahesh Kumar as railway board member (staff) were “in order”, the informal decision to let him hold the additional charge of general manager, western railway was allegedly “highly irregular”, said the source. “He was holding the additional charge though there was no formal written order for it,” said the source.