CBI gets Rly Board nod to probe scam

NEW DELHI: THE Railway Board has given permission to CBI to probe the role of Mumbai Railway Recruitment Board chief SM Sharma in the multi-crore railways recruitment scam.

“Railway Board has accorded the permission to CBI under Section 6 (A) of the DSPE Act, 1946 to conduct investigation into the role of Chairman Railway Recruitment Board, Mumbai in the Railway Examination Paper Leak Scam,” CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal said. The CBI will now question Sharma on the recruitment scam.

After the CBI conducted raids on Friday, the Railway Board had suspended Sharma and warned that ‘‘ all officials at any level found responsible would be dealt with severely’ ’

The CBI had registered the case in Hyderabad on June 15 and had arrested 8 persons including Sharma’s son. Now the agency will go ahead with its investigations into whether the recruitment board chief was also involved in the scam. “The Central Bureau of Investigation has unearthed Railway Recruitment Scam by conducting simultaneous raids at Mumbai, Bangalore, Raipur, Kolkata and Hyderabad. It is estimated that the scam runs into several crores of rupees,” the CBI said.

The CBI had arrested Vivek Bhardwaj Sharma, son of SM Sharma , chairman of Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Mumbai, the then additional divisional Railway manager (ADRM), Raipur, AK Jagannathan , his son Srujan and a Raipur-based agent.

According to the CBI, Jagannathan in connivance with the officials of RRB, Mumbai allegedly obtained a copy of the question paper before the examination date and provided the paper to aspirants who were identified by agents. Each aspirant was charged Rs 3.5 lakhs to get the paper a day before the examination for induction of staff in Group C category of the Indian Railways.

The CBI had said that searches led to the detection of Rs 60 lakhs in the banks accounts of the family members of the RRB chairman. The CBI further said that Vivek Sharma, the son of the RRB chairman purchased a Pajero from the ill-gotten money in one of his relatives name.

The agency also recovered Rs 21.5 lakhs in cash and original certificates of 444 aspirants from Jagannathan’s residence Hyderabad, while Rs 12 lakhs were recovered from his possession at a hotel in Bangalore.

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the railways ministry would not tolerate corruption and would take stern action against those found guilty.