New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI) The CBI on Friday arrested the chief engineer of South East Central Railways, Bilaspur, and three others for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 32 lakh from a private company for favouring it in contracts and work orders executed by it, officials said.

In a trap operation, they said, the agency arrested Chief Engineer Vishal Anand, a 2000-batch officer of the Indian Railways Service of Engineers (IRSE); his brother Kunal, who accepted the bribe on his behalf; Jhajharia Nirman Ltd. MD Sushil Jharjharia; and an employee of the company, Manoj Pathak, who delivered the bribe amount.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) action came after the agency registered an FIR against Anand and others, including Jhajharia Nirman Ltd.

“It was alleged that accused chief engineer (CE), South East Central Railways (SECR), Bilaspur, in connivance with private persons, indulged in corrupt activities of obtaining bribe from the private contractor for favouring the firm in the contracts and work orders executed by it in South East Central Railways,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

He said searches were conducted at several places, including Bilaspur and Ranchi.

It was also alleged that Anand had instructed his brother Kunal to receive the bribe on his behalf in Ranchi, it said.

Jhajharia Nirman Ltd. was involved in the construction of minor and major bridges, railway overbridges, railway underbridges, capacity enhancement work and track lining work in the SECR.

Jhajharia and Anand allegedly met in the latter’s office in Bilaspur on April 21 and it was decided that a bribe of Rs 32 lakh would be delivered to Kunal in Ranchi to finalise the pending matters in favour of the firm, the CBI said.

It said Jhajharia directed his employee Pathak to deliver the amount in Ranchi to a relative of the officer.

“The CBI laid a trap today, April 25, and caught the accused CE after his family member had accepted a bribe of Rs 32 lakh from other accused belonging to the accused private firm. The bribe amount was recovered from the possession of CE’s family member by the CBI team,” the statement said. PTI ABS DIV DIV