Rlys freight scam: CBI likely to book 10 firms soon

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to file cases against 10 firms in its probe into the high-tech manipulations of Indian railways’ static and Electronic In-Motion Weigh Bridges (EIMWB).

The agency is likely to act against some of the railways’ approved private vendors running the EIMWB, alleged beneficiaries including two cement manufacturers and some railway officials under the scanner, said sources.

The railways in consultation with its Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) had developed the EIMWBs. Around 200 such bridges across the country were installed to weigh the freight in transit — at the prescribed speed of 15 km/ hour — while 65 of them were raided by the agency last month.

“The probe revealed systematic manipulations in weighment achieved through tampering of the EIMWB software and hardware and also manual entries,” said the source.

According to the source, the vendors are under the scanner owing to allegations that the EIMWB technology got tampered— the 65 hard disks are being forensically examined by the agency. Cement firms could have benefited from the resultant under-weighment and under-invoicing.

The agency is finalising its estimation of the quantum of loss caused to the exchequer as a result of the fraud, said the source.

“The manipulations could have caused losses worth thousands of crores to the exchequer and also damaged the tracks since freight wagons were overloaded but programmed to stay concealed,” said a CBI source.