New Delhi, May 5 : Three persons, arrested for their alleged role in a bribery case in which Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew is also an accused, were today remanded in CBI custody till May 7 by a Delhi court.
Accused Narain Rao Manjunath, Managing Director of G G Tronics India Pvt Ltd and two others —- Samir Sandhir and Rahul Yadav -- were produced before Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma who sent them to CBI custody after the agency said that their custodial interrogation was required to unearth the entire conspiracy.
CBI told the court that these accused were part of the deep rooted conspiracy and they need to interrogate them to confront them with the other arrested accused including Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla.
The court had yesterday remanded Singla and three others, Sandip Goyal, Dharmendra Kumar and Vivek Kumar, to CBI custody till May 7 after the agency said it was necessary to find out the "actual beneficiaries" and other conspirators who were involved in the bribery case.
CBI has also arrested from Mumbai Mahesh Kumar, who is Member (staff) in Railway Board and is the main accused in the case, and he is yet to be brought to Delhi.
CBI has arrested them for their alleged roles in the bribe case in which a deal of Rs 10 crore was finalised for fixing a top level position in the Railway Board.
The agency had said that it had received information that Manjunath was in regular contact with accused Mahesh Kumar who was trying to get himself appointed to a more lucrative post in Railway Board as Member (Electrical).
Mahesh Kumar, who was GM (West) Railways, had been promoted as Member (Staff) in Railway Board and was allegedly trying to get himself posted as Member (Electrical) in Railway Board, it said.
CBI had said Manjunath and Mahesh Kumar were also in regular touch with businessman Goyal for this purpose. Goyal had assured Mahesh Kumar that he will get him posted as Member (Electrical) in Railway Board in exchange for "pecuniary gratification."
CBI has named eight accused persons in the FIR for the offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and for criminal conspiracy under the IPC.
Manjunath was arrested Bangalore and according to CBI, he was the "main financier". Rahul and Samir were arrested from Delhi.
"It is, therefore, stated that accused persons, who have been arrested need to be confronted with each other to unearth a larger conspiracy as to who was the actual beneficiary of the bribe amount of Rs 10 crore and Rs two crore," CBI said.
Regarding the conspiracy, CBI had said that out of the total deal amount of Rs 10 crore, a part payment of Rs 90 lakhs, which was allegedly managed by accused Vivek Kumar, was made out.
CBI had taken the custody of the four accused yesterday on the ground that they were required to be interrogated to find out the source of bribe amount of Rs two crore and Singla was also to be interrogated to know from where he got Rs 89.68 lakh, which has been recovered.
It had said the first tranche of Rs 90 lakh was given to Singla who was apprehended while accepting the money.
It had said Goyal had informed Mahesh Kumar and Manjunath that the present Chairman of Railway Board was to retire in June this year and then the present Member (Electrical) Kulbhushan will be posted as Chairman of the Board.
Goyal had said he would then manage to get Mahesh Kumar appointed as Member (Electrical) through "his contact in the Railway Ministry" and had demanded Rs 10 crore for this work, it had said.
The agency had also said it was decided among the accused that Rs five crore will be paid before appointment and the rest of the money will be paid after the Mahesh Kumar's appointment as Member (Electrical).
It had said Mahesh Kumar had decided to take bribe of Rs two crore from Manjunath and other businessmen for making payment to Goyal with a promise that he will help them in future since they were dealing with Railways as suppliers.
