CBI grills close aide of corruption accused former Noida engineer Yadav Singh

New Delhi: A close aide of graft tainted former Noida Chief Engineer Yadav Singh was questioned by the CBI and is believed to have spilled the beans on the meticulous modus operandi adopted in alleged collection of bribe and its distribution among officials.

Ramendra, Assistant Project Engineer Noida, who directly reported to Singh, was called for questioning by CBI earlier this month, CBI sources said.

They said he had maintained a diary in which meticulous details of the alleged bribe collected from builders and contractors were maintained and how these funds were distributed among the officials of Noida.

The sources said he had also revealed the names of the officials who were entrusted with collecting bribe and its distribution through a chain of officials at various levels.

Yadav Singh is believed to be handling projects worth Rs 8000 crore in Noida and was also made Chief of the Yamuna Expressway project for a brief period by the state government.

The sources said it has emerged from the examination of Ramendra that about 5-10 per cent of the contract value bribe was extracted from the contractors. This bribe amount varied from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore and above, they said.

The alleged bribe was distributed among officers under Singh with the officers at the lowest level getting 0.05-0.10 per cent (five paise to 10 paise per Rs 100 of bribe) of the booty in which bribe amount remains about Rs 50 lakh or above.

He has also spilled the beans on the alleged bribe taken from contractors for bringing them under the financial eligibility criteria of the authority for which he was getting 0.10 per cent of total amount given by the contractor.

It is alleged that Yadav Singh was final authority in giving clearance to the inclusion of various contractors in the eligibility list.
CBI is also going through messages and communications exchanged from a phone, believed to be that of Singh, through which he had recommended names of several contractors and builders to be included in the "eligibility list" of Noida.

The sources said that CBI is looking into the ownership details of two companies allegedly linked with associates and relatives of Singh. Several Kolkata-based companies and real estate developers are also under the scanner.

They said the agency will also look into the changes in the share-holding patterns of the companies linked with Singh in an attempt to understand the alleged political clout he enjoyed during his stint in Noida.

The agency has registered two separate cases against Yadav Singh and his family members for alleged corruption and amassing assets disproportionate to the known sources of income.

It is alleged that during searches by Income Tax department in November, 2014, several incriminating documents and Income Tax Returns were allegedly recovered from several premises of Singh.

"The scrutiny of ITRs and other connecting records have allegedly revealed that during the period 2009-2014, the total likely savings of the family of then Chief Engineer was Rs 1.70 crore (approx) whereas they were in possession of immovable property worth Rs 3.60 crore (approx).

"Besides, an amount of Rs 10 crore (approx) was allegedly recovered from one of his associates, which also reportedly belonged to then Chief Engineer," CBI spokesperson had said.

Singh had executed projects worth around Rs 8,000 crore in Noida in the last 12 years, the Noida authority said in a report besides being involved in infrastructure projects such as Ganga water supply, sewage pipelines, drainage, hospitals, parks and the metro.