RailEnquiry

NEW DELHI: "Isse kam doge to MR (minister for railways) naraaz ho jaayenge (minister for railways will be annoyed if you pay less than this)," former railway minister Pawan Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla told Mahesh Kumar as he tried to coax the jailed member (staff) of the railway board into agreeing to pay Rs 10 crore in return for the latter's appointment as member (electrical) in the board.As the CBI prepares to question Bansal, intercepts of Singla telling Mahesh Kumar that the former railway minister was in the loop are going to be crucial for the investigating agency to verify Bansal's claim that his nephew was acting on his own.There are at least 5-6 points in the intercepted conversations running into 100-125 hours and recorded over close to two months where Singla invokes 'MR' to assure Kumar that he would get the posting of his choice. In another conversation, Singla, according to sources, told the railway official that 'MR' would meet him, and went on to mention the names of others who were going to be present in the meeting.Sources said the conversations, prima facie, suggest that Singla did not bluff when he assured Kumar that he was speaking on behalf of the former minister. "Anyone who hears the tapes will be more or less convinced that Bansal could hardly have been oblivious," said a source.He also said that the evidence was so strong that there was a "70% chance" that it may pass muster even with a court which is exacting in applying the presumption of innocence.

CBI plans to back up the evidence it has of Bansal's suspected complicity in the "cash-for-postings" scam with documents collected from the railway board which allegedly show how Kumar conspired with Singla to get the post he coveted.

The intercepts also vividly bring out Kumar's desperation to get the post of member (electrical) since he considered the position of member (staff) worthless. "Isse to peene ke paani ka bhi daam nahin nikalna" (this post cannot even give you so much as to cover the cost of drinking water," Kumar is heard telling Singla in a snatch of the conversation that the CBI investigators painstakingly recorded after they had accidentally stumbled upon the railway official's number while keeping tabs on a corrupt customs official.

The intercepts also reveal that Singla was apprehensive of the CBI and took precautions until greed took over. So, he refused to collect money from railway contractor Narayanrao Manjunath near Akshardham in Delhi. Bansal's nephew said the CBI was more active in Delhi as he asked Manjunath, through their point of contact Sandeep Goyal, to deliver the money in Chandigarh.

What he did not realize was that the CBI, having listened in on their dealings for close to two months, was so clued in that it immediately got its team to tail the two cars carrying money to Chandigarh. The agency also took the precaution of stationing its teams at different points during the Delhi-Chandigarh stretch, lest the couriers made a detour.

The CBI has arrested Singla, Kumar, Sandeep Goyal, Ajay Garg, Manjunath and businessmen Rahul Yadav and Samir Sandhir in the scandal and has recovered Rs 90 lakh bribery amount, given as first installment of the bribe.