CBI arrests 2 railway officials in Ambala on bribery charges

The CBI has arrested two railway officials, including an engineer, in Haryana's Ambala for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1.80 lakh from a contractor for clearing his outstanding bills, officials said Wednesday.

The arrested officials were Vivek Langayan, a senior divisional signal and telecommunication engineer, and Praveen Kumar, a chief office superintendent posted at the office of the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Ambala.

Based on a complaint filed by the contractor, the agency laid a trap and arrested Langayan, a 2010-batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE), and Kumar during the exchange of bribes.

Following the arrests, searches were conducted at the residential and office premises of the accused in Ambala which led to the recovery of incriminating documents, CBI Spokesperson R C Joshi said. According to the agency, the contractor was awarded two contracts worth Rs 92 lakh and Rs 1.15 crore through open tenders, and after completion of the projects, he had submitted revised estimates.

''It was further alleged that the chief office superintendent demanded a bribe in lieu of approval of revised estimates which was two percent of the gross contract value on behalf of the senior divisional signal and telecommunication engineer,'' Joshi said.