CBI files FIR against South Central Railway engineer for demanding bribe

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an FIR against a senior section engineer at the South Central Railway in Maharashtra's Purna, an official said.

He is alleged to have demanded a bribe from a contractor in exchange for releasing his vehicle (a pick-up van) and clearing the bill.

A senior CBI official said that a written complaint in this regard was received from Milind Janardhan Londhe regarding the demand for undue advantage by Rajiv, a Senior Section Engineer (Mechanical) at the South Central Railway, Purna.

"The complaint and its verification disclosed that the complainant, Londhe, who owns SA Electric & Electronics, has been a Railway Contractor since 2013 and was awarded the contract for supplying three four-wheeler vehicles for railway staff pick-up through GeM since July 2021. He provided three vehicles, two owned by himself and one by a known person, to the Railways Depots at Purna, Aurangabad and Nanded for Rs 47,999 per month per vehicle," said the FIR.

This contract was for two years with a total cost of Rs 34,55,928, and it expired in July 2023.

After the contract expired, the vehicle with registration number MH-22 AA 2933, deployed at Purna depot, was released by Rajiv.

The complainant approached him on several occasions to release the vehicle and complete the final bill. 

On August 18, 2023, Rajiv, SSE, completed the final bill but did not hand over the documents to the victim and asked for a personal meeting.

"On September 4, Rajiv demanded undue advantage for releasing the vehicle and other documents and forced the complainant to pay a sum of money. He did not release the vehicle and stated that he would hand it over only after the remaining amount is paid," the FIR added.

The official mentioned that they have filed the FIR under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused and are looking into the matter.