CBI: No evidence against Bansal
Former railway minister P.K Bansal — who had to resign from the Union Cabinet after his nephew was found to be operating from his official residence — has been given clean chit by the CBI. Talking to this newspaper, CBI Spokesperson Dharini Mishra said, “The CBI has concluded its probe into the railway bribery scandal. During the course of investigation, the agency did not find sufficient evidence against the former railway minister to proceed against him in the bribery scandal.” The former railway minister was questioned at length by the CBI during the course of the investigation.
Filing of the chargesheet by CBI on Tuesday dimmed the hope of arrested accused to be released soon on bail. Sources said in cases of corruption, agency had to file its chargesheet within 60 days of arrest else the accused are released on bail. Mr Singla was arrested in Chandigarh on May 3 for allegedly accepting `90 lakhs in cash from Manjunath, conduit of Mr Kumar, recently promoted as member (staff) in the Railway Board and trying to get a lucrative position as member (electrical). The CBI registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC against the accused.
“The CBI sleuths corroborated all the allegations levelled in the FIR and got enough evidence which points to the involvement of Mahesh Kumar, Mr Singla and other accused in the case,” sources said. All evidence collected by the CBI have been mentioned in the chargesheet, sources said. The agency also mentioned in the chargesheet that the sanction to name Mr Mahesh Kumar as accused in the probe report would soon be granted by the railway ministry. “Railway ministry has assured CBI that it would soon give prosecution sanction against Mr Kumar,” sources said.
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