Twitter
Advertisement

All you need to know about the railway bribery scam

A brief description of the scam and the people involved in it

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

1) What is the railway bribery scam?

On May 3, news about a Rs 10 crore bribery scam involving Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was out for the first time. Reports said that Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla received Rs 90 lakh part payment for the transfer of railway board member Mahesh Kumar from Member (Staff) to Member (Electrical), which is considered a lucrative posting.

The actual money involved in the transaction was Rs 10 crore which would be distributed among the other officials involved in the transfer of Kumar. The CBI in its investigation has acquired records of the phone conversations between Singla and Kumar. The involvement of Pawan Kumar in this scandal was suspected. 

2) The rise of the Bansal family:
Pawan Kumar Bansal's wife Madhu and sons Amit and Manish Bansal own Theon Pharmaceuticals, their major client being pharmaceuticals like Cipla, Ranbaxy, Torrent, and Piramal. Theon registered a turnover of Rs 15.35 crore. In 2010, its turnover was Rs 62 crore. In 2011 it was Rs 105 crore in 2011 and finally it went up to Rs 152 crore in 2012.

Bansal's sons are directors in four companies - Theon Pharmaceuticals Limited, Iva Healthcare Private Limited, Isis Packaging Pvt Ltd and Bansi Raunaq Energy group Limited.

3) CBI probe:
CBI formally started investigations into all recruitments, transfers, postings and promotions since October 28, 2012, the day Bansal took charge of the ministry. The CBI investigators who had been involved in the case listened to over a 1000 phone conversations and allegedly caught Singla with the money. They immediately tried to look for Mahesh Kumar but he was nowhere to be found.

On tracing his phone, they found that he was on his way to the airport to fly to Mumbai. The CBI ordered the arrest of Mahesh Kumar and he was arrested at the Mumbai airport. There were several revelations made by the CBI.

The CBI revealed that Theon's borrowings from Canara Bank leapt to Rs. 23 crore from Rs.7 crore during Bansal's term as finance minster in 2007. During this time, the minister's family auditor Sunil Gupta was also appointed as director of the bank.

4) Congress and BJP on the scandal:
On the 4th of May, a day after the news of the scam broke, BJP held a protest demonstration in Chandigarh demanding immediate resignation of Railway Minister and Chandigarh MP Pawan Kumar Bansal. Congress members said that they will wait for the entire investigation to get over and they will consider shifting Bansal to another ministry instead of ordering him to quit.

According to news channel CNN-IBN, Sonia Gandhi felt that allegations against the minister's kin may damage the party's image and that the damage must be controlled.

5) The final outcome:
The Congress President said that the party would not "spare anybody mired in corruption". As a result, Pawan Kumar Bansal was forced to quit on 10th May after a meeting with Sonia Gandhi. CBI sources have said that they will interrogate Bansal soon to follow up on allegations of his involvement in the case.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement