Railway bribery case: Eighth accused arrested by CBI

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Delhi police arrested one more person in connection with the Railway board bribery scandal involving Railway Minister PK Bansal on Sunday. Till now, eight persons have been arrested in the case. CBI arrested Sameer Sandhir, a businessman, for his involvement in the bribery case. Rahul Yadav, a middleman, was the seventh accused to be arrested in the case. Yadav’s name was mentioned in the FIR. Earlier, two courier boys, who allegedly delivered Rs 90 lakh cash as bribe to Bansal`s nephew for fixing the promotion of a Railway Board member, were arrested. So far seven persons, including Bansal`s nephew Vijay Singla, Railway Board Member (Staff) Mahesh Kumar, middlemen Sandip Goyal and Manjunath, have been arrested in connection with the case. This comes a day after the Congress Core Group, headed by party president Sonia Gandhi, met on Saturday at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the issue. Earlier on Saturday, the Prime Minister also called and talked to Bansal. According to sources, Bansal had explained his position claiming he had no business links with his nephew, Vijay Singla, nor did he get influenced by him in decision making. On his part, Bansal had distanced himself from his nephew who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly accepting Rs 90 lakh for fixing a better position for Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar. Singla, who is a close aide of Bansal and was regularly seen in election campaigning alongside had allegedly demanded Rs 10 crore for getting Kumar posted as member (electrical) which is considered next to Railway Board chairman in hierarchy. (With PTI Inputs)