Railgate phone intercepts genuine
NEW DELHI: In a boost to the CBI's examination of the Railways' promotion-for-cash scam, forensic tests have confirmed the 1,000-odd telephone intercepts, which allegedly feature key accused, to be genuine.
The voices of suspended railway board member Mahesh Kumar and businessman Vijay Singla are in the intercepts. The tests were conducted at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory. Confirming this, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) source said: "It were these telephonic intercepts made by a special unit that led to the cracking of the case."
"The forensic confirmation of the intercepts' genuineness as evidence will strengthen our case against the accused in the trial stage," the source said, adding that the CBI had enough other evidence, including disclosures made by the accused, to corroborate the contents of the intercepts.
Singla, nephew of former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, and Kumar were arrested on May 3 on the allegation that they had made a deal to fix a top post on the railway board for Kumar for a bribe of Rs 10 crore, of which Rs 90 lakh had been paid. The CBI also examined Bansal, who quit amid allegations that Singla had operated from his official residence and used its telephone numbers to ascertain his role in the case
FORENSIC TESTS’ OUTCOME TO STRENGTHEN CBI CASE; BANSAL NOT LIKELY TO BE NAMED ACCUSED FOR NOW
and identify the authority that was supposed to change Kumar's job profile of board's member ( staff ) to member (electrical) and allow him to continue with additional charge of general manager, Western Railway.
The CBI, which will file its chargesheet against 10 accused, including Kumar and Singla, is likely to not name Bansal as an accused, though the inquiry will be kept open to identify the end-beneficiaries. "We will name the 10- odd accused in our chargesheet, probably on Tuesday, who had direct role in the bribe transaction. We have no direct evidence linking Bansal to the crime yet and he has sought to de- link himself from his nephew's illegal activities," said the source.
The CBI will file a supplementary chargesheet after determining the identity of the bribe's end-beneficiaries. The investigation shows that while the files related to the promotion of Kumar as board member ( staff) were allegedly " in order", the informal arrangement to let him hold the additional charge of general manager, Western Railway, was irregular, since there was no written order for the same, the source has said.