Fresh CBI case against Railways officer for amassing Rs 2.3 crore 'illicit' assets

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a fresh case against a suspended additional divisional railway manager (ADRM) for allegedly amassing about Rs 2.30 crore of disproportionate assets in the past six years of his service, officials said on Wednesday.

The CBI had arrested 1997-batch Indian Railways Services Officer Manager Jitender Pal Singh, who was posted at Maligaon in Guwahati, on January 14 in an alleged bribery case of Rs 1.5 crore.

The fresh FIR accuses Singh of allegedly accumulating about Rs 2.30 crore worth of illicit assets during his six-year tenure as ADRM in Maligaon, Guwahati, the officials said.

The agency had arrested him on January 14 while he was allegedly receiving Rs 50 lakh as part of the total bribe amount.

The CBI investigation revealed that Singh had allegedly received illegal gratifications totalling about Rs 1.5 crore, which were found to be parked with a contractor named Bishnu Gupta, the officials said.

Gupta had allegedly documented some figures related to the bribe amount in a diary.

During a search operation at Singh's premises and those of his associates, the agency discovered various documents detailing his income, expenditures and assets acquired, along with a significant amount of cash, the officials said.

Further scrutiny of the documents and investigation led to the allegation that Singh possessed illicit assets that were approximately twice (197 per cent) the amount of his known income sources, they said. 

The agency alleged that he intentionally accumulated the illicit assets from January 1, 2017 to January 14, 2023.

Singh had initially joined the Indian Railways as an IRSE Probationer in the 1997 batch and served at different stations of the North East Frontier Railway in various capacities. His wife, a housewife from Ajmer, is also booked for allegedly abetting Singh by acquiring assets in her name.

"The above facts, prima facie disclose that Jitendra Pal Singh has intentionally enriched himself illicitly during the period of his office from January 01, 2017 to January 14, 2023, to the tune of Rs 2.30 crore as he along with other accused are in possession of pecuniary resources/property disproportionate to the known sources of income, which he could not satisfactorily account for," the CBI FIR alleged.

Apart from Singh and his wife, Bishnu Gupta, the contractor, has also been named in the FIR by the CBI.