Disconcerting to see railways name in bribery case

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, reacting to the CBI raids in Chandigarh and the arrest of the nephew of Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, said that it was "disconcerting" to see a bribery scandal in his ministry.

New Delhi: Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, reacting to the CBI raids in Chandigarh and the arrest of the nephew of Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, said Saturday that it was "disconcerting" to see a bribery scandal in his ministry.

"I feel a little embarrassed. The entire thing is being probed and will have to be probed by the CBI and the decision will be taken by the CBI and we would also like to see who is involved," Chowdhary told a news channel. "Questions must be raised. But right now it is premature to make any comment as to what is going to take place and what is going to happen, and who is going to be axed," Chowdhary said. "Over the decade, railways has very much become a hub of corruption so within a short period we are unable to clean up. We are trying hard to make railways a vibrant and dynamic organisation," he said. The minister said, "Our leadership and even the prime minister is serious to see that railways should work in a proper manner. Right now I cannot hold anybody responsible". Posing an embarrassment to Bansal, the CBI Saturday arrested his nephew Vijay Singla and three others for allegedly taking a bribe for the promotion of a top railway official. Singla, a businessman who is Bansal`s sister`s son, his friend Sanjay Goyal and two others were taken by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team to New Delhi Saturday morning from Chandigarh for further investigations. The CBI teams continued raids through Friday night on the palatial residence of Singla in Sector 28 of Chandigarh, located close to the residence of the union railway minister. IANS