In a major breakthrough in the probe into alleged cash-for-jobs scam in the Railways, the CBI is all set to make Sunil Daga, an alleged middleman and an accused in the case, an approver who has spilled the beans in the entire racket.
The CBI officially had said on Monday that Daga was arrested from Delhi but a day later it said he was only detained. Initially, Daga tried to hoodwink the sleuths but started singing when he was told that he would be arrested if he does not cooperate in the investigation.
Daga is one of the three middlemen who were in touch with other accused persons Narayanrao Manjunath and Vijay Singla, Railway Minister Pawan Bansal’s nephew. These middlemen allegedly delivered Rs90 lakh through hawala route towards part payment of the Rs10-crore bribe amount to Singla on behalf of Manjunath for securing the post of member (electrical) to arrested member of railway board Mahesh Kumar.
The officials said Daga is now cooperating in the probe and the agency will soon record his statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Such a statement is admissible in a court of law as evidence.
The agency plans to use Daga’s statement along with other technical evidence and statements of prosecution witnesses to nail the accused persons in the case.
Following Daga’s revelations and scanning of the intercepted calls, the agency has decided to question other railway officials connected with orders of promotion of Mahesh Kumar and witnesses of the trap case in the coming few days, agency sources said.
The CBI, meanwhile, has decided to carry out internal inquiry into the alleged tip-off to Mahesh Kumar’s wife after his arrest in the bribery scam. The CBI had conducted searches in Mumbai to trace the property papers, jewellery and cash that were removed from Kumar’s residence after his arrest.
One of the meetings between Bansal and Kumar is likely to figure during the former’s examination by CBI that may take place soon. The meeting took place on the sidelines of a function in Mumbai when the Minister visited there on April 16. Within a fortnight of this meeting in which two more persons were understood to be present, Kumar assumed charge of Member (Staff) in the Railway Board, agency sources said.
The CBI has so far arrested eight people in connection with the bribery scandal which allegedly involves Bansal’s nephew Singla and Kumar. Singla was arrested for receiving Rs90 lakh part payment of “bribe amount” allegedly routed by Kumar through the middlemen.
CBI has identified about 500 phone calls out of the 1,000
intercepted calls between Kumar, Singla and middlemen Manunath and Sandeep Goyal.