CBI registers disproportionate assets case against railway engineer arrested for bribery

New Delhi: A deputy chief engineer of the Northeast Frontier Railway arrested over bribery charges has been booked by the CBI alongwith his family members for amassing assets disproportionate to income, officials said on Monday.

The CBI has booked Rampal, his wife and mother-in-law in the fresh case registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy, and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act related to disproportionate assets and abetment to the crime, they said.

During the searches conducted after registering the bribery FIR against Rampal and others in February this year, the CBI had recovered Rs 1.10 crore in cash from his premises while Rs 67 lakh was found at the in-laws’ place, they said.

This became the basis of the fresh FIR, the officials said.

In an unusual move, the agency has not made public with the FIR the exact amount of illicit assets as it may adversely affect the ongoing investigation.

The CBI had arrested three persons: Senior Section Engineer Santosh Kumar and his superior Deputy Chief Engineer Rampal, both posted in Silchar; and contractor Sajjan Chaudhary, who is the owner of Tribeni Constructions.

Kumar was arrested while allegedly receiving a part payment of Rs 8 lakh from the construction company, they said.

In the bribery FIR registered against nine people in February, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had alleged that Tribeni Constructions had submitted a bill of Rs 19 crore in one of the projects.

The amount included the inflated sum of Rs two crore by manipulation in collusion with Rampal, Kumar and other accused public servants, out of which Rs 20 lakh was already given to the deputy chief engineer, Rs 35 lakh to Assistant Executive Engineer B U Laskar (another accused), and Rs 36 lakh of bribe money was to be handed over to Kumar, the FIR alleged.

The agency had made the arrest when remaining bribe amount was to be paid, they said.