CBI Arrests Five Including 2 IRSS Officers In Tender Bribery Case

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested five people, including two Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS) officers of Indian Railways in two separate cases of bribery, officials said on Friday. The arrested accused have been identified as H Narayanan, a 2000 batch officer of IRSS, Deputy Chief Material Manager, Material Management Department of Central Railway (HQ), Mumbai; Samir Dave and Deepak Jain, both representatives of Anest Iwata Motherson Private Ltd, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

In the first case, it was alleged that a representative of a Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh)-based private company was regularly bribing senior railway officers of Western Railways for the favour of awarding tenders to the parties being represented by him. It was further alleged that the Deputy Chief Material Manager, Material Management Department, Central Railway, Mumbai has demanded illegal gratification from said private company based at Greater Noida (UP) through the private person (who was acting as the conduit between officials of Central Railway, Mumbai and various private companies) for awarding tenders to the said company for procurement or supply of material.

CBI said that in the second case, the arrested accused have been identified as Atul Sharma, a 2010 batch officer of the IRSS, Deputy Chief Material Manager, Material Management Department, Western Railway (HQ) and HD Parmar, Senior Material Manager, Western Railway, Mumbai. The other accused who have been named in the case were Nimai Guin, the then Marketing Manager, Industrial Forge and Engineering Company, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand; Amit Kumar, Marketing Manager, Industrial Forge and Engineering Company; Samir Dave, a private person; Joydeep Hazra, representative of Midlands and Company, Kolkata (West Bengal).

"The said private person was in the habit of regularly bribing senior railway officers of Western Railways for the favour of awarding tenders to the parties being represented by him," CBI said. It was further alleged that the Deputy Chief Material Manager, Material Management Department, Western Railway (HQ) has demanded illegal gratification from the private company based at Jamshedpur, (Jharkhand) through said private person (who was acting as the conduit between officials of Western Railway, Mumbai and various private companies), for awarding tenders to the company for procurement/supply of material.

"A trap was laid. The Deputy Chief Material Manager (Electrical) of Central Railway, Deputy Chief Material Manager (Coaching) and Senior Material Manager of Western Railway were apprehended while accepting a bribe of around Rs. 70,500. The Private Persons (Bribe givers) were also apprehended," CBI said.

CBI said that the searches were conducted at around 12 locations, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Greater Noida, Jamshedpur, Ahmedabad and Vadodara, at the premises of the accused, which led to the recovery of cash, papers relating to properties, investment and jewellery, among other incriminating documents and articles.

All the arrested accused were produced before the competent court. Further investigation is underway.