NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has unearthed a railway recruitment scam running into crores and arrested eight persons including the son of the Mumbai Railway Recruitment Board chairman for allegedly leaking and selling exam papers.
“The CBI has unearthed railway recruitment scam by conducting simultaneous raids at Mumbai, Bangalore, Raipur, Kolkata and Hyderabad. This scam relates to the examinations of Assistant Loco Pilot and Assistant Station Master. It is estimated that the scam runs into several crores of rupees,’’ CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal said.
The CBI has arrested Vivek Bhardwaj Sharma, son of S M Sharma, chairman of Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Mumbai, the then Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM), Raipur, A K Jagannathan, his son Srujan and a Raipur-based agent.
This is being seen as one of many scams being carried out by gangs in different parts of the country. The agency has warned aspirants against falling for such scams and bringing it to the attention of the nearest CBI branch.
This particular scam relates to examinations that were held on June 6 and June 13 this year for induction of staff in Group C category of the Indian Railways. According to the CBI, Jagannathan in connivance with the officials of RRB, Mumbai, allegedly obtained a copy of the question paper before the examination date and provided the paper to aspirants who were identified by agents.
``The aspirants of the examinations so mobilised were asked to pay huge amounts of money and deposit their original certificates with the then ADRM and only after that the question paper was provided to them one day prior to the examination,’’ the CBI said, adding, ``The agreement is to pay the remaining portion of money and take away the certificates after the declaration of the results. Each aspirant allegedly paid Rs 3.5 lakhs in installments to get the paper a day before the examination and then to be selected for the job.
Jagannathan, Sharma, Srujan and the agent were produced in a Hyderabad court and remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody. Three Hyderabad-based agents and an employee of health department of government of Andhra Pradesh were also arrested.
The CBI said that searches led to the detection of Rs 60 lakhs in the banks accounts of the family members of the RRB chairman. The CBI further said that Vivek Sharma purchased a Pajero from the ill-gotten money in the name of a relative.
CBI sleuths have recovered Rs 21.5 lakhs in cash and original certificates of 444 aspirants from the Jagannathan’s residence in Hyderabad, while Rs 12 lakhs were recovered from his possession at a hotel in Bangalore. Question papers and original certificates of the aspirants were also found in the hotel.
The CBI said several incriminating documents have been recovered from the searches at Kolkata, Hyderabad and Raipur. The RRBs across the country conduct examinations for induction of staff in Group C category of the Indian Railways.
(The Economic Times, 19th June, 2010)
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