Rail Neer scam: CBI recovers Rs 20 crore cash in raids

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday exposed a major scam in the supply of packaged drinking water Rail Neer within the Railways, and recovered Rs 20 crore cash in raids on suppliers who were benefiting from the scam.

The agency raided 13 places in Delhi and Noida, and registered a case against two senior officials of Northern Railway and seven private companies in connection with the alleged scam. The case has been lodged against former chief commercial managers (PS and Catering) of Northern Railway M S Chalia and Sandeep Silas.

The companies booked by CBI are RK Associates Pvt Ltd, Satyam Caterers Pvt Ltd, Ambuj Hotel and Real Estate, PK Associates Pvt Ltd, Sunsine Pvt Ltd, Brandavan Food Product and Food World under Prevention of Corruption Act.

CBI officials said that Rs 20 crore were recovered from the residence of Shyam Bihari Agrawal, his sons Abhishek Agrawal and Rahul Agarwal, who own RK Associates and Brandavan Food Product World.

As per CBI, the railway officials had favored these private firms by allowing other packaged drinking water other than the mandatory Rail Neer in premium trains, including Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express, and were making big gains.

According to a Railway Board order, IRCTC is to provide Rail Neer at roughly Rs 10.50 per bottle to the private caterers and the private caterers will be paid roughly Rs 15 per bottle for supplying the same to passengers in premium trains.

Flouting the norm, the private suppliers were allegedly supplying cheap packaged water, whih is sold in the market at around Rs 6-7 per bottle, thereby causing loss to the exchequer.