The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has widened its probe into the job-for-sale scam, which allegedly involves the railway minister’s nephew Vijay Singla and rail board member (staff) Mahesh Kumar.
According to the sources, the agency has sought details of the appointments made in the rail board in recent years, ?They have sought files of all appointments made in the last four years. That means all appointments made at member level, the top brass of Indian Railways, will be scrutinized by the CBI,? a rail board official told FE. The promotion file of Kumar is already with CBI.
The agency is also looking into investments made by Singla in recent years. Singla owns a palatial house, several showrooms, a mall, schools and hundreds of acres of land in Punjab. ?The money trail of Singla is being probed by the agency. We are also trying to understand the kind of influence Singla had at Rail Bhawan,? a CBI official said.
The CBI also has the phone call details of Singla, where he’s heard talking to several top railway officials. The agency also carried out searches at the residence of Kumar in Mumbai.
The agency sources said CBI has also got phone intercepts of Kumar, which indicate that he would have been the main beneficiary if he had become member (electrical).
The CBI is also likely to seek clarifications from railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Meanwhile, Singla’s close associate Ajay Garg, a Punjab-based industrialist, has been arrested after he surrendered at the Patiala House court in Delhi He was named by the CBI in its FIR, which was filed on Friday, alleging Singla accepted bribe from Kumar to elevate him to the post of member (electrical) in the Rail Board.