Railways terminate services of NHSRCL MD Satish Agnihotri

NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways terminated the services of National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) Managing Director Satish Agnihotri Thursday morning, who was in charge of the Modi government’s ambitious bullet train project. The Ministry also confirmed that Rajendra Prasad, Director, Projects, NHSRCL has been handed over the charge temporarily for three months for now.

The letter by the Rail Board to the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited, mentioned, “The competent authority has approved the termination of office of Satish Agnihotri. He has been directed to be relieved with immediate effect.”

Though rail officials have been maintaining silence on this issue while being asked, however, sources confirmed that there were several allegations against Agnihotri, including misuse of official position and diverting funds in an unauthorised manner to a private company, which led the national transporter to a financial deficit in a couple of instances. Reportedly, the decision to sack him came following a June 2 Lokpal court order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe charges of a “quid pro quo” deal allegedly struck by the ex-NHSRCL MD with a private company during his nine-year tenure as CMD of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).

The Lokpal court asked the investigating agency to submit the probe report to the Lokpal office within six months or before December 12, 2022, and to “ascertain whether any offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, is made out” against the senior rail official.

Officials said the complaints against him were made by one of his batchmates after he joined NHSRCL, even though he submitted relevant documents to the PMO regarding the corruption, sources said. The 1982 Batch IRSE officer (Retired) took charge as MD of NHSRCL on July, 1, the last year.

The ministry officials also alleged that Agnihotri took up a job in a private firm within a year of his retirement. This was in violation of government rules which prohibits retired officials from accepting commercial employment before one year of retirement without the Centre’s approval. However, reportedly, the ex-senior rail official also had written to the DopT seeking a waiver of the one-year cooling-off period before joining the firm.