Title - Rail-gate: CBI summons railway officers with files

NEW DELHI :  Only two of the five Railway Ministry officials summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could be interrogated on Monday with regard to the cash-for-job scam busted by the agency on May 3.

Before interrogating former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on a questionnaire readied from probing of the accused, including his nephew, the CBI is trying to ascertain the procedure followed in carrying out the top appointments.

The Railway Ministry officials, who were summoned because of the role they play in the top appointments, were asked to come with all the files on the senior-level appointments in the past since the tenure of Mamata Banerjee as the railway minister.

“We want to understand how the railway transfer and posting system works before questioning Bansal,” a top CBI official said.

He said some officials who were in regular touch with Vijay Singla, the nephew of Bansal arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 90 lakh, to help arrested Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar in his promotion, were also being interrogated. “We want to understand how deep were hands of Singla in the Railways,” the official said, pointing out that the first to be interrogated in this regard last week was the then minister’s private secretary Rahul Bhandari, a 1997 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre.