Railway bribery case: CBI seizes valuables which were removed from Mahesh Kumar`s premises

Huge amount of cash, diamond, jewellery, Kisan Vikas Patra and documents of benami property were discovered from the residence of Mahesh Kumar.

Zee Media Bureau Mumbai: CBI on Monday carried out searches at the premises of suspended Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar and claimed to have recovered property documents and diamond jewellery of "substantial value" which were removed from his residence soon after his arrest on May 3 from Mumbai airport. The sources said agency received a tip-off that some property related documents, passbooks and jewellery were removed from his official residence by his household members soon after the news of his arrest flashed. They said the agency tracked the location of these items and documents after questioning local taxi drivers and family members of Kumar. The sources said based on the inputs, searches were carried out in Mumbai-suburb Bhayander from where these items including documents of property, diamond and gold jewellery were recovered from a "shady" place where they were hidden. They said although the initial value of these items does not seem to be "staggering but it is substantial". Railway Board Member Mahesh Kumar had allegedly offered a bribe of 90 lakhs to get the plum posting as Member (Electrical) to Union Railway Minsiter Pawan Kumar Bansal`s nephew Vijay Singla. In the FIR registered by the CBI, it has been said that Kumar had agreed to pay "illegal gratification" of Rs 10 crore to Bansal`s nephew and co-accused Sandeep Goyal, a businessman, for his appointment at a more lucrative post of Member (electrical) of Railway Board. "The source revealed that Sandeep Goyal has informed Mahesh Kumar and Manjunath (co-accused) that present Chairman, Railway Board, Vinay Mittal, would retire in June 2013 and Member (electrical), Kulbhushan, would be posted as Chairman Railway Board. Sandeep Goyal has assured that once Kulbhushan is appointed as Chairman, Railway Board, he would manage to get Mahesh Kumar appointed as Member (electrical) through his contacts in the Railway Ministry," CBI had said. Meanwhile, the CBI today arrested Ajay Garg, an industrialist in Chandigarh in connection with the railways bribery case, an official source said. Garg was arrested from Sector 22 in the afternoon. He is the tenth accused to be arrested by the case, the source in the probe agency said. Garg`s arrest came on a day when Bharatiya Janata Party activists protested near the house of Bansal in Sector 28, demanding his dismissal from the Union Cabinet. With Agency inputs