CBI books seven railway officials, Bhartia Infra Projects Ltd in Rs 60 crore bribery case

New Delhi: The CBI has booked seven railway employees and a private company, Bhartia Infra Projects Ltd., in a Rs 60 crore bribery case related to projects in the North East Frontier Railway zone during 2016-23, officials said Tuesday.

The matter came to light after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Santosh Kumar, senior section engineer of the North East Frontier Railway zone, in a Rs 2 crore bribery case following searches at his premises, they said.

The material gathered during the searches revealed that Bhartia Infra Projects Ltd. allegedly paid bribes worth more than Rs 60 crore to railway officials, according to CBI officials.

During the searches, the CBI also found a list of names of officials associated with the company's projects, who allegedly received bribes in cash as well as in bank accounts of their family members between 2016 and 2023, they said.

The private firm got six major projects from North East Frontier Railway during 2016-22, which included the construction of a station yard, protection of tunnel portals, and construction of a single line tunnel, RCC retaining wall and foundation of a major bridge on the Barak river, according to the officials.

In the FIR, the CBI has named as accused the then deputy chief engineer, construction, Rampal; the then deputy chief engineer AXENs Jitendra Jha and BU Laskar; and the then senior superintendent engineers Rituraj Gogoi, Dhiraj Bhagawat, Manoj Saikia and Mithun Das, besides Bhartia Infra Projects Ltd., the officials said.