The Uphill Task for C.B.I. to Implicate Bansal in Bribery Case

The Uphill Task for CBI to Implicate Bansal in Bribery Case The railways’ bribery case seems to have broken out prematurely. It is a tough task to link Bansal to the top sensational scam. The CBI officers are now working day in and day out to find some fault of Bansal which can undoubtedly be related to the bribery case, but they see it to be an uphill task. Technically, the bribe money did not touch Bansal’s hand and promises made for providing additional charge of G M Westrn Railway, and Signal and Telecommunication did not materialize when money was captured red handed. The posting of Mahesh Kumar as member (Staff), Railway Board, was done on May 1 in regular process on correct lines. The CBI has to find out if any such order of keeping double posts has been issued by the minister or his staff. There are two sides of this episode. First, the money meant for ‘work to be done’ has been passed on and second, the actual work as promised has been done or not. The CBI Director, Ranjit Sinha, who was DG, GRP, Indian railways, prior to his present assignment as CBI Director was familiar with the inside working of the Railway Board and a few of disgruntled officers had earlier told him of the corrupt practices being adopted in promotion to the top posts in the railways. Curiously enough, Mahesh Kumar had informed Sinha regarding such activities being practiced at the top level. Perhaps this might have prompted Mahesh Kumar to have the advantage if work is ‘done’ so normally and he put his step to risk. CBI is a cruel department. The trick was played on Mahesh Kumar himself. Equipped with information received by ‘insiders’, Sinha started working much earlier to the present incident of capturing the money being ‘transferred ’ form one party to another. The ex-minister Bansal may have a strong defence in his favour by debunking CBI’s claim to have enough evidence to nail the minister. Although it is difficult to prove the bribery case against Bansal, but the probe is still on and something new may come up. The missing link in the case is that CBI has no phone intercepts of Bansal whose nephew Vijay Singla has been arrested for promising to fix the appointment of Mahesh Kumar as member (electrical), Railway Board. Singla bragging in the phone conversation about Bansal’s influence does not prove that Bansal was on board. With the resignation of Bansal as minister, a general perception prevailed that he might have presided over a series of scam of the same nature. The CBI has to go through deeply into the files which were forwarded to Bansal for promoting officers in various other fields. The CBI would question Bansal for his relationship with Singla and his activities at Rail Bhavan, but Bansal has a strong plea in his favour because the raids and arrests took place before Kumar’s appointment as member (electrical). When the crime has not been committed, how can one be implicated in the case? The railway minister is the deciding authority in such promotion cases and Mahesh Kumar’s promotion to member (staff) is a clear affair. The CBI thus had a tough job in deciding whether to swoop in or wait for the appointment to happen. ”we could have either let the bribe amount be exchanged and Kumar’s appointment be done …or catch the bribe money being exchanged red handed. For us laying the trap and seizing the money was most important” said Sinha. Now Bansal involvement has to be proved in the court. The CBI believed that Mahesh Kumar had a good reason to rely on Singla because he had seen Singla at the minister’s residence and in the office of minister’s personal secretary, Rahul Bhandari. Kumar had apparently checked that Singla in the past had got certain railway appointments fixed