New Delhi, May 11: A preliminary CBI inquiry report clearly mentions details of meetings held by Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla with Railway official Mahesh Kumar (currently in custody) and others in connection with the bribery scam. Singla also used the Railway Minister's official phones to communicate with associates, says the report.
Following are some of the call details:
April 7: 5 Calls between Singla and Mahesh 011 23782811
April 15: 2 Calls between Singla and Mahesh 011 23782811/23782812
April 17: 4 calls Sandeep Goyal and Mahesh Kumar 23782811/23782812
May 1: 2 calls Sandeep Goyal and Mahesh Kumar 23782811/23782812
(The Delhi landline numbers are at the railway minister's official residence)
April 7: Meeting at between Manjunath, Mahesh Kumar, Vijay Singla and Rahul Bhandari at Bansal's official residence on 6, Ashoka Road
April 15: Singla calls Kumar again
April 16: Bansal flies to Mumbai; Mahesh meets Bansal; later Bansal attends 58th Central Railway Week where he honours Kumar
April 17: Kumar meets Bansal again, requests elevation of post to member (mechanical)
The preliminary report says, Singla and Sandeep Goyal arranged the appointment of Narottam Das as chief electrical engineer (CEE) at Kapurthala Rail Coach factory. Das, who was CEE at North Western Railway, was transferred to RCF on December 17, 2012.
This was preceded by 16 phone calls between Singla and Das and four between Bansal's private secretary Rahul Bhandari and Das on December 4 and December 11 respectively, sources said.
Sources also said one Dayal Arya was picked as the head of material management functions at Chittaranjan Loco Works.
CBI sources said they will send a notice to the former Railway Minister very soon, to question him about his links to Goyal, Singla and Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar.
The agency swung into action, when a bribe of Rs 90 lakh, which they now suspect was arranged through hawala route, was being delivered in Chandigarh on May 3.
Agency sources confirmed that they have initiated an internal enquiry to find out if an insider had tipped off Kumar's wife on May 2 about the impending CBI raid.
When CBI officers reached Kumar's residence in Mumbai, his wife had already moved jewellery and other articles to the residence of a Railway Protection Force officer. The agency has sent explanatory notices to some of its officers, sources said.
Meanwhile, CBI sources said over 1,000 phone calls were intercepted during the two-month long surveillance on Kumar, Singla and others.
Sources said these calls were between four key players in the scandal -- Kumar, Singla and middlemen Manjunath and Sandeep Goyal. Many of these calls were to the official phones installed at Bansal's residence.
Singla's location during the surveillance showed that he was frequently present at the railway minister's residence and Rail Bhawan.
These factors, and meetings between Bansal and Mahesh Kumar, are likely to figure during the questioning of Bansal by CBI.
The meeting between Bansal and Kumar took place on the sidelines of a function in Mumbai where Kumar was felicitated by the minister. Within a fortnight of this meeting in which two more persons may have been present, Kumar assumed charge of member (staff) in Railway Board.
The preliminary CBI report said the deal for posting Kumar as member (electrical) was finalised on April 15 between Singla and Kumar.
On April 15, Singla spoke to Kumar at least five times from Bansal's official residence in Delhi, the CBI report said.
The next day, Bansal flew to Mumbai to honour Kumar at the 58th Central Railway Week function.
"While Bansal stayed on in Mumbai for another day, Kumar met him twice on April 17 after Singla called him early morning and asked him to meet the minister to request him to elevate him to member (electrical) in the Railway Board," sources said.
The report also mentioned a 90-minute meeting between Singla, Rahul Bhandari, Narayan Rao Manjunath, the managing director of Bangalore-based GG Tronics India Private Limited and Goyal, who owns a Panchkula-based company manufacturing electrical equipment for the railways.
The agency also said Singla rarely used e-mails to communicate with Kumar while there was a possible use of fax system to avoid any traces.
