Northeast Frontier Railways: CBI arrests Guwahati-based company director in bribery case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Pawan Baid, Director of M/s. ABCI Infrastructures Pvt. Ltd based out of Guwahati, relating to a case of Rs. 1 crore bribery paid allegedly to the relatives of CAO/Construction-II, Northeast Frontier Railways.

“The accused was absconding since January 17 and was not joining the investigation. Subsequently, a non-bailable warrant was issued on January 23 against the said accused by the Special Judge CBI Cases, New Delhi. Various places of hiding of accused situated at Guwahati, Araria (Bihar), Siliguri, New Delhi, etc. were identified, searched and he was apprehended from Delhi,” a statement issued by the CBI said.

The arrested accused was produced before the designated court in Delhi on Friday.

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“It may be noted that CBI has registered a case against a Senior Railway Officer – Chief Administrative Officer/Construction-II, North East Frontier Railways, Maligaon (Assam) & others including a Deputy Chief Engineer, NFR; an Assistant Executive Engineer (AEN), NFR; a Director & an employee of a private company based at Guwahati; a private person and unknown others, under relevant sections of IPC and PC Act,” the statement said.

It was alleged that the accused were abusing their official position for obtaining illegal gratification. Additionally, it was also alleged that some senior public functionaries of NFR were involved in corrupt practices with private contractors for the on-going projects in the North East Frontier Railways.

“The contractors were allegedly being facilitated in awarding the processing of the contract of subsequent bills, releases of payments, etc. by the public functionaries in lieu of illegal gratifications,” the release by CBI added.

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CBI had earlier arrested a Chief Administrative Officer (a Senior Railway Officer), Construction-II, North East Frontier Railway(NFR), Maligaon (Assam); a Deputy Chief Engineer, NFR, Agartala; an Assistant Executive Engineer, N.F. Railway(NFR), Agartala(Tripura); an employee of a private company based at Guwahati (Assam) and a private person(a relative of CAO, North-East Frontier Railway) in the instant case.

During earlier searches at 26 locations, including Delhi, Uttarakhand, Assam, Tripura, and West Bengal, a total amount of Rs 4.43 crore (approx.) was recovered. This includes an alleged bribe of Rs 1 crore, which exchanged hands on January 17.

Investigations in the case are still ongoing.