Mahesh Kumar

New Delhi, May 8: Suspended Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar’s arrest followed complaints from some fellow officers who felt his alleged attempts to pull strings for promotions would spoil their chances, sources said today.

As general manager of the Western Railway posted in Mumbai, Kumar is said to have queered the pitch for some colleagues at Rail Bhavan in order to make space for himself. He was already board member (staff) but wanted to be member (electrical), a post that allows control over multi-crore electrification projects across the country.

“That (his attempts to get the position) frustrated some officers who tipped off the CBI with information that went against Kumar,” a source said.

It was after this that the CBI put some telephones on surveillance and finally laid a trap leading to the arrests of minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew, Vijay Singla, and Kumar last week.

CBI officers said the investigations began from Kumar, not from the office of Bansal. Singla allegedly took a bribe of Rs 90 lakh from the railway officer.

Kumar is accused of arranging the money from railway equipment suppliers, with the Rs 90 lakh being part of a larger Rs 10-crore sum to become member (electrical) on the board and possibly the chairperson later.

The money paid was allegedly meant to keep the post of general manager while Kumar remained board member (staff), a position he was promoted to recently, agency sources said.

A CBI officer suggested it was unusual for an officer to cling on to a lower post after a board promotion unless the junior position carried huge financial powers.

A general manager of the Western Railway — a key zone with Mumbai as the hub and involving huge investments in a raft of upcoming mass transportation projects — enjoys considerably greater financial powers.

All general managers — officers who head railway zones — enjoy sweeping financial powers, followed by divisional managers. Above them is the six-member board, which includes the members and the chairperson.

Eight persons have been named in the current case. Only one of them, Sushil Daga, is yet to be arrested. Ajay Garg, a Singla aide, was held yesterday.

Vivek Kumar and Dharmendra Kumar, alleged “couriers” for the bribe, have been sent to judicial custody, as have businessmen and alleged co-conspirators Rahul Yadav and Samir Sandhir.