Railway bribery: CBI banks on 1000 phone intercepts

NEW DELHI: CBI has intercepted over 1000 calls of suspects in Railway bribery scandal before it swung into action and arrested Railway Minister P K Bansal's nephew and recovered Rs 90 lakh of alleged illegal gratification.

CBI sources said that during its surveillance of each suspect who was part of the alleged conspiracy, the agency was intercepting phone conversations which deal with negoatiations and bargaining between them.

The sources said these intercepts run into 1000 calls with over 80 hours of tapped conversations.

They said CBI is planning to confront each of the arrested accused, including Railway Minister P K Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla, suspended Railway Board Member Mahesh Kumar besides middlemen and businessmen arrested so far in connection with the alleged scandal.

The sources said they would confront these accused with their tapped conversation as the case is primamrily based on these intercepts along with other documentary evidence which have been recovered by the agency.