New Delhi: CBI has recovered Rs 10 lakh from a drain near the house of arrested Railway Board official which were allegedly flushed by his relatives at the time of raids carried out by the agency recently.
The sources said when CBI team reached the residence of Ravi Mohan Sharma, arrested on October 22 while allegedly accepting bribe of Rs five lakh, relatives sensed trouble and flushed money bundles in the drain before they were stopped by the officials.
CBI sources said team of agency officials in toe with labourers are still at Verma's residence looking for cash in the sewage drain.
The sources said so far about Rs 10 lakh have been recovered from the drain even as the search continues. According to CBI sources, the arrest is the second biggest after Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar, who was arrested for allegedly giving bribe of Rs 90 lakh to get a lucrative post.
Sharma, an Indian Railway Traffic service officer of 1997 batch was arrested by the CBI on October 22 while receiving a bribe of Rs five lakh from 'hawala' link of a Mumbai-based tour operator, the sources said.
They said the agency is probing links of Verma with other senior officials of Railway establishment, especially those involved in clearing additional coaches and special train for the clients of tour operator from Surat to Haridwar.
CBI has arrested Verma here and two tour operators Rajesh Champaklal Jodhani and Kulin Kumarpal Shah in Mumbai for the alleged bribe which was meant for processing the application for getting coaches for the special trains on priority.
The sources said Verma has been sent to four days of police custody by the special CBI court here.
They said the agency is also looking at the possibility of initiating a disproportionate assets case against the officials if he fails to explain the sources of the money recovered from him.
