Title - WR official’s assets under CBI scanner

Railway Board member and Western Railway GM Mahesh Kumar is once again under the CBI scanner, this time in Mumbai, for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets. Earlier, he was booked in Delhi by CBI for allegedly bribing Railway Minister's kin to get a plum posting. He was arrested at the Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport on his arrival from Delhi.

CBI's Anti Corruption Bureau in Mumbai has registered a preliminary inquiry. A probe was initiated after a search at various places, including Kumar's residence, revealed two suitcase-loads of documents indicating a huge accumulation of wealth.

One of the startling recoveries was of over two dozen back-dated revenue stamp papers, registered for the purpose of making agreements and wills. CBI suspects that back-dated stamp papers would have been used to legitimise benami transactions.

CBI had conducted a search at the Western Railway GM's bungalow in Malabar Hill but except some documents revealing substantial investment in shares, nothing much was found. It was only when CBI interrogated him in Delhi that he revealed that his wife had shifted the property-related documents out of the house.

Reportedly, Kumar's wife Anjali was called Railway Protection Force (RPF) IGP Mahim Swami's wife Shubha to help her shift two "important" suitcases to a safe place. Shubha, in turn, asked an RPF official to join them and the trio shifted the suitcases to the officer's house in Parel.

When CBI came to know about these suitcases, they followed the officer, only to find that he had shifted them to a friend's place in Bhayender. He suspected that the suitcases had money, after learning from TV that Kumar has been booked in a graft case.

In the suitcases, CBI found documents of properties acquired by Kumar. They included Rs 1.82 crore-flat acquired a year and a half ago in Gurgaon, besides three other properties in Noida, Dwarka and Railway Colony, whose total value is estimated to be at Rs 1.5 crore. A registry of a land (45,000 square feet) near Bangalore city, which Mahesh Kumar purchased when he was DRM in Bangalore, was also found.

Besides this, CBI recovered Kisan Vikas Patras and National Saving Scheme Certificates worth Rs 45 lakh, Fixed Deposit receipts worth Rs 27 lakh, and gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 26 lakh. Also recovered were over 30 credit cards of different banks and more than a dozen bank account statements.

Sources in CBI said besides Kumar, his wife Anjali would also face inquiry for attempting to meddle with evidence. The role of the IGP's wife was being evaluated, sources said.