Mahesh Kumar tried to be a whistleblower

Senior railway official Mahesh Kumar, now in judicial custody on corruption charges, tried to throw the CBI off the scent some months ago by approaching the agency about financial wrongdoing in the railways, and in the process invited trouble for himself, reports Manish Pachouly.

Senior railway official Mahesh Kumar, now in judicial custody on corruption charges, tried to throw the CBI off the scent some months ago by approaching the agency about financial wrongdoing in the railways, and in the process invited trouble for himself.

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It was on Kumar’s information that the CBI started keeping a watch on the railways and discovered that Kumar himself was allegedly involved in corrupt practices and was trying to become member (electrical), Railway Board, through wrong means.

By tapping phone calls, the CBI unearthed the bribery nexus involving Kumar and railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla.

CBI sources said Kumar had approached the agency’s office in New Delhi around five months ago when he was general manager, Western Railways, in Mumbai. “He had also written a letter to the CBI to this extent,” said a CBI official, requesting anonymity. In the process of investigation, the CBI came in contact with a senior railway official who told the agency about Kumar’s alleged venality.