Rly officials bribery probe: CBI recovers ₹2 cr from South Delhi hotel

In connection with its bribery probe against senior officers of Northeast Frontier Railways, CBI has recovered ₹4.43 crore cash during searches

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recovered more cash -- around ₹2 crore -- from a private hotel in South Delhi in connection with its bribery probe against senior officers of Northeast Frontier Railways including its chief administrative officer Mahender Singh Chauhan, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

Representational Image. (File photo)

So far, CBI has recovered around ₹4.43 crore cash during searches at various places in the last three days. Chauhan was arrested on Sunday when ₹1 crore bribe was being delivered at his place through some middlemen.

The case is being termed as one of the biggest trap cases in recent times.

CBI officials said the cash -- ₹2.04 crore -- was hidden at a hotel in Greater Kailash by the representatives of the private company, ABCI Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, which has been booked for giving bribe to Chauhan and others.

CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said in a statement, “It was found during further searches at the premises of a private firm (ABCI) located at Kailash Colony, New Delhi, that certain items were removed and concealed at another place in Delhi. After a thorough search, ₹2.04 crore (approx) cash along with other items were seized from the said place [Greater Kailash] for further investigation.”

During earlier searches at 26 locations, including Delhi, Uttarakhand, Assam, Tripura and West Bengal, a total amount of ₹2.39 crore (approx) was recovered, Joshi said.

“This includes an alleged bribe of ₹1 crore, which exchanged hands and is stated to be one of the biggest bribe money trapped. Besides this, jewellery and property documents were recovered from the locations of the accused. Thus, so far, ₹4.43 crore (approx.) has been recovered,” the statement said.

Chauhan was alleged to have extended favours to ABCI in awarding railways contracts.

The accused persons’ legal representatives could not be located for their comments.