New Delhi:
Just days after Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) uncovered a multi crore recruitment scam in Railways, the agency has got permission of the Railway Board to conduct investigation into the role of the Railway Recruitment Board Chairman S M Sharma. Sharma's son Vivek has already been arrested for allegedly selling question papers. All arrested accused in the case are in judicial custody.
Former chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board S M Sharma was arrested today in connection with multi-crore scam. Sharma's son Vivek has already been arrested for allegedly selling question papers; all arrested accused in the case are in judicial custody.
"The Railway Board has accorded the permission to the CBI to conduct investigation into the role of Chairman, RRB, Mumbai, in the Railway examination paper leak scam," CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal said on Monday.
The CBI had on June 19 claimed to have unearthed the multi-crore recruitment scam and had arrested eight persons, including Vivek Bhardwaj Sharma, son of S M Sharma, who was Chairman of RRB, Mumbai, A K Jagannatham, the then ADRM in Raipur and his son Srujan.
The Railways had immediately suspended Sharma and said that it will provide all cooperation to the CBI in its investigation.
The CBI alleged that the accused in the scam used to charge Rs 3.5 lakh from an aspirant to leak the question paper.
The agency claimed that Jagannatham was the kingpin of the scam and that there was deal of Rs one crore with involved RRB officials to leak out the question paper.
As part of the deal, an amount Rs 55 lakh was already paid to the officials of RRB, Mumbai, it said.
With regard to the modus operandi, the agency alleged the job seekers were required to deposit their original certificates with Jagannatham. The question paper was provided to them one day prior to the examination and the certificates were returned after the payment of the complete amount, according to CBI's Hyderabad DIG, V V Lakshmi Narayan.
The CBI has claimed several documents relating to the scam have been found during searches in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Raipur.
The RRBs across the country conduct examinations for induction of staff in Group C category of the Indian Railways. On June 6, examinations were held across the country for the induction of assistant loco pilots (ALP) and on June 13 for assistant station masters (ASM).