A Delhi court yesterday sent businessman Ajay Garg, an alleged aide of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew, Vijay Singla, an accused in the railways bribery scam, and three other accused to CBI custody till May 9.
CBI Special Judge Swarna Kanta Sharma sent Narayan Rao Manjunath, Vijay Singla, Sandeep Goyal and Ajay Garg to the probe agency’s custody for questioning.
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The CBI told the court that “the investigation of the case is still at an initial stage and the accused persons are trying to hide the facts and are giving evasive replies”.
Garg, who owns a multi-crore-rupee company which supplies electrical goods to the railways, was close to Bansal’s nephew Singla.
Singla allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 90 lakh from a senior railway officer Mahesh Kumar for his (Kumar’s) appointment as member (electrical) of the powerful Railway Board. Kumar, who was general manager (west), railways, had been promoted as member (staff) in the Railway Board and was allegedly trying to get himself appointed to a more “lucrative” post as member (electrical), the CBI said.
Singla, Manjunath and Goyal were presented before the court after the expiry of their four-day CBI remand, while Garg appeared before the judge for the first time.
The CBI arrested all the accused for their alleged roles in the bribe case in which a deal of Rs 10 crore was finalised for arranging for the top position in the Railway Board for Kumar.
The FIR was filed against eight accused under the IPC’s Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 7, 8 and 10 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.