On the intervening night of March 3 and 4, the CBI conducted searches and caught 17 loco pilots, who were the candidates for the department exam for elevation to the post of chief loco pilots. The CBI also seized Rs 1.17 crore.
The Central Bureau of Investigation busted a departmental exam racket and arrested 26 railway officials on the Eastern Central Railways, the probe agency said on Tuesday. The federal probe agency has also seized Rs 1.17 crore cash.
The CBI further said that the railway officials were arrested on Monday night for allegedly leaking papers of a departmental examination for the elevation to the post of chief loco pilot at Mughal Sarai, adding the exam was to be conducted on Tuesday.
Candidates caught red-handed
A CBI spokesperson said, “During the checks conducted by CBI, at three spots on the intervening night (March 3-4) at Mughal Sarai, a total of 17 candidates were found with photocopies of hand-written question papers.”
He added that all 17 departmental candidates who are presently working as loco pilots had allegedly paid money for the question paper and were caught red-handed with the copies during the raid. In a statement, the spokesperson stated, “Overall, 26 railway officials (including the 17 aspirants) have been arrested in this case so far.”
The agency has also registered an FIR against a senior divisional electrical engineer (operations) who is among the 26 arrested officials. He was given the responsibility of setting and preparing the question paper for the said examination.
“He himself had written the questions in English and allegedly gave it to one loco pilot who in turn translated it into Hindi and further gave it to another official. The said official allegedly gave it to the candidates through a few other railway employees,” the spokesperson said.
“Searches were conducted at eight locations, which resulted in a recovery of Rs 1.17 crore in cash. The amount was reportedly collected from the candidates for leaking the question papers,” stated the spokesperson.
“The hand-written question papers along with their photocopies were seized. These question papers have been tallied with the original question paper and were found to have matched,” the spokesperson added.
Who are all arrested?
Those arrested include:
1. Sushant Prashar, Sr. DEE (Ops), DDU Railway Division, ECR
2. Indu Prakash, Sr. DEE (TRD), DDU Railway Division, ECR 3. N. K. Verma, OS, Training School, DDU Railway Division, ECR 4. R.N.S. Yadav, Loco Pilot Goods (LPG), DDU Railway Division, ECR 5. Ajeet Singh, Chief Loco Inspector, DDU Railway Division, ECR 6. Anish Kumar, Asst. Loco Pilot, DDU Railway Division, ECR 7. Nityanand Yadav, Loco Pilot, DDU Railway Division, ECR 8. Krishan Yadav, DDU Railway Division, ECR 9. Suryanath, Loco Pilot, DDU Railway Division, ECR 10. 9 named and other unknown accused
