Railgate: key accused Mahesh Kumar seeks quashing of FIR, cognisance order

NEW DELHI: Suspended Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar, a key accused in the Rs 10 crores cash-for-post railway bribery case, has moved the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the trial court's order taking cognisance of CBI's charge sheet saying the Centre's approval was not obtained prior to initiating the probe against him.

Justice Sunil Gaur today reserved his order on the plea which also seeks quashing of the FIR lodged against him as well as a stay on the Special CBI court's proceedings in the case in which nine others including Vijay Singla, nephew of former Railway Minister P K Bansal, are also accused.

Kumar has sought quashing of the May 3, 2013 FIR lodged against him as well as the trial court's July 4, 2013 order by which it had taken cognisance of the charge sheet in the case saying he was Secretary-level officer and under Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, it was mandatory for CBI to "seek prior approval of the central government before initiating any investigation" against him.

During the arguments, senior advocate U U Lalit, who appeared on behalf of Kumar, questioned the cognisance of the charge sheet saying "if the initiation (of probe) is bad, then as per law laid down, cognisance is bad".

Advocate Narender Mann, who appeared for CBI, submitted that once the investigation starts and the trial court takes cognisance of the charge sheet, then the initiation of the probe cannot be questioned.

CBI had on July 2 filed its charge sheet in the case against 10 accused -- then Member (Staff) of Railway Board Mahesh Kumar, Singla, Managing Director of Bangalore-based G G Tronics India Pvt Limited Manjunath Narain Rao, middlemen Ajay Garg and Sandeep Goyal, Rahul Yadav, Samir Sandhir, Sushil Daga, C V Venugopal and M V Murali Krishan.

In its charge sheet, CBI has alleged Singla had demanded Rs 10 crore from Kumar for his appointment to the post of Member (Electrical) and it was decided between the accused that Rs five crore will be paid before the appointment and the rest after the job was done.

The first tranche of Rs 89.68 lakh was allegedly given to Singla who was apprehended in Chandigarh while accepting the money, it has said.

Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who resigned from the Union Cabinet in the wake of the scandal, has been named as one of the key witnesses in the case while Singla has been termed as the "main person" whose influence was to be allegedly used for getting Kumar appointed to the post seen as "lucrative".